


Dangerous Dance

by Khi0neFr0st



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Alpha Jason Todd, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Canon, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Domestic Fluff, Drama, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Healthy Relationships, Last tag edit I swear: it gets super fluffy, Like, M/M, Mutual Pining, Omega Tim Drake, Slow Burn, Timeline What Timeline, but he still makes mistakes, casefic, kind-of-friends to lovers, like every good parent, more than I anticipated, smut is for later chapters ya nasties, so brace yourselves, tooth-rotting rainbow-barfing fluffy, what am I still doing here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:48:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 37,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25820875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khi0neFr0st/pseuds/Khi0neFr0st
Summary: When someone starts kidnapping people in the neighboring town, circumstances force Tim and Jason and their newly-found semi-friendship to the test. Through all the ridiculous shenanigans, family drama and emotional baggage, will they emerge the same? And if they do change, will it be for better, or for worse?Whatever they take from the experience, one thing's for sure - in this dangerous dance, it takes two people to dip and fall.Or basically: Two dumbasses who don't know they have feelings for each other go undercover at the neighboring city's university, and hijinks ensue.
Relationships: Tim Drake/Jason Todd
Comments: 139
Kudos: 428





	1. Chapter 1

“What!?” two voices exclaimed in unison, and Tim would’ve been offended if he didn’t agree with the other person beside him right now, an incredulous expression etched on his handsome face that Tim didn’t doubt was mirrored in his own.

“You heard me,” Bruce clipped. “This is a delicate matter, so we must treat it as such and deal with it accordingly,” he huffed, evidently displeased at having to repeat himself. “You two will go undercover as a couple in Bludhaven University, and appear as two normal college students while actively finding out whoever is causing these disappearances,” he said again, and Tim found that he wasn’t any less flabbergasted than the first time.

“Wha- I- We-” Jason began, gesticulating around himself in disbelief. Once again, Tim had to agree, but it seemed Jason currently had the upper hand in articulating his feelings. Well, not by that much, but still considerably more than Tim, whose tongue was clearly against the idea of moving properly right now.

“Why do we have to do it as a couple!?” Jason finally exclaimed, half-shouting and half-asking. “Because all the victims so far have been in couples, specifically of the Alpha-Omega pairing,” Bruce sighed, facing the bat computer, pinching the bridge of his nose. “And we need to lure them out using-”

“Using me as bait, got it,” Tim jumped in, finally finding his voice. “But surely there are other, more… _convenient_ ways to approach the problem, Bruce,” he stated, looking up at the man.

“Yeah,” Jason agreed with him for the third time that night. “Why can’t Dick take care of this whole thing? ‘S his territory, isn’t it?” Jason stepped in again, not backing down.

Bruce sighed for the nth time, looking like he was done with the conversation, parroting points he’d already mentioned when the both of them had been too speechless to argue. Under normal circumstances, Tim would feel sorry for him. As it was, though… 

“We’ve been over this. Dick is preoccupied with other cases right now, and neither of you have any major impending assignments as of late,” he said again, for their benefit. Although Tim really doubted it was, unable to admit it but Bruce was making sense. Not even taking into consideration how it would definitely be quicker to pose as a target, Gotham had been more quiet lately, and Nightwing really sounded like he could use some help.

“Besides, he couldn’t very well charge into the fray and risk scaring away the culprit,” Bruce said, making more sense that Tim didn’t want to hear at the moment. “Nightwing’s information tells us that our suspect has been at large for three months now, after… _staking out_ another local university,” Bruce said, rubbing at his temples. Tim knew Bruce was understating the gravity of the situation. The case had been biting Dick in the ass for months now, with several omega victims having gone missing from their neighboring city’s schools before the pattern of similar events had come under their radar. 

The offender only had one thing clear on their modus operandi - their choice victims were college-level omegas that were known to have been, or rather, were currently romantically involved with an Alpha.

The motive that jumped out at them first was the most obvious one - omegas were a valuable resource, and the developmental stage when they became particularly fertile coincided with the exact time they usually entered college. Though why their perp preferred omegas with experience was a matter more unbeknownst to Tim. As far as he knew there wasn’t any tangible difference, although he admitted he wouldn’t know, considering…

“This will be an undercover operation, needless to say,” Bruce told them, back to his usual business demeanor. “If all goes well, our miscreant will be on your trail and you’ll be able to use that to your advantage and follow him through it,” he turned back to them. “Until then, you will investigate and open other possible options on other ends,” he said, steel gaze going over the both of them. “Understood?”

Jason huffed in defiance but didn’t say anything, his arguments having finally run dry. Tim simply nodded, turning around with Jason to leave the cave.

*~*~*

“Sorry, I might’ve overreacted back there,” Jason sighed, leaning on the handlebars of his bike, his helmet resting in between his hands. Currently they were at the port, both of them resting on their bikes, looking at the sunset across the railings as they admired the sky painted in hues of yellow, pink and orange, shimmering across the surface of the waves that ended at the rocks beneath them. 

Tim shook his head, a chuckle rising up his throat. “I wasn’t exactly jumping in joy either,” he told him, although some small part of him was disappointed that Jason seemed so against the idea. He wasn’t sure what to make of the feeling, so he tucked it away to ponder over later. Or maybe never, if it was what he suspected it was.

Jason sighed again. “It’s not like I don’t like working with you, because… well, heck yeah, I do like it,” he shrugged. “It’s just the whole…” Jason began moving his arm around again, as if to gesture something utterly unfathomable to him. “The fake relationship thing?” Tim offered, turning away from the sunset to look at his companion. There it was again, that feeling, the indecipherable dismay that rose to the surface, constricting in his chest. He beat it back down, turning back towards the railing as Jason gave a chuckle of his own.

“Yeah, that, I guess,” he rested his arms on the bars again. “And don’t get me wrong, you’re not the problem,” he said, almost reassuringly, and Tim had to fight the small flicker of hope that cropped up in his chest. _What the hell?_

“It’s the…” Jason trailed off again, searching for the words. Tim almost laughed. “The fake relationship thing, yeah,” he offered again, grinning. It was just like Jason to be unable to articulate his feelings, communication never really being the strong point in most of their relationships. Jason outright laughed this time. “Yeah, you got it,” Jason finally settled down. “It’s not that I don’t prefer doing it with you, it’s just that I… _don’t_ prefer doing it. With anyone,” he finished, his gaze soft, features serene as he looked out toward the sea, and against Tim’s better judgement, he found himself staring.

“Nice view, huh?” he asked, turning to Tim. The younger gulped and looked back to the scene that he was no longer seeing, hoping his mask was hiding the flush that he was afraid would be creeping across his face. “Yeah,” he agreed absent-mindedly.

All of a sudden a loud bang was heard in the distance, both of them turning around to look, the sound followed by two more gunshots and the unmistakable sound of breaking glass.

They turned to face each other, excitement sparking in their eyes as Tim felt the adrenaline rush through his veins. Jason was putting on his helmet, mirth playing on his lips. “Gotham,” Tim muttered, grinning, and Jason chuckled humorlessly. “She never rests, does she?” he asked. Tim grinned wider as he wore his own helmet, taking Jason’s smirk in stride. “Ready?” the older asked, and Tim met his gaze with his own, steel resolve clear as the sun. 

“Born that way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello hello!!! If anyone is reading this, then thank you so much!! I've always wanted a casefic with lots of insight into the actual investigation, but also very tied-in with their relationship dynamic and I guess it just kind of stemmed from there? Anyway, I hope you enjoy this as much as I do :D


	2. Chapter 2

Jason Peter Todd was not a man known for his excellent interpersonal people skills. On the contrary, many of the few relationships he had with people were strained, amicable at best and downright broken at worst. So coming into a romantic relationship was definitely news to him - news that he _should_ have been aware of, definitely, and in under any other circumstance, but this definitely wasn’t that.

He did not like having to fake relationships. He did not like having to _fake_ shit, period. Especially not with people he genuinely wanted to have a good connection with.

Red Robin, no- Tim Drake, was among those very few people. And he found himself more surprised by it than anyone else, the feeling growing stronger in certainty every single day.

And yet for all that he was certain, he also had his doubts.

Because it was a lie that it didn’t matter who he did this mission with. Because he _knew_ , deep in his heart where he would never admit it, that Timothy Jackson Drake was going to be his undoing.

The reason why the both of them had actually solved the vast majority of their cases was because they had been working together - unbeknownst to the rest of the family. Jason wasn’t sure exactly how it happened, both of them stumbling into the same case at the same time, undercover, and then busting the shit out of it when it came down to it. 

It had kicked off from there. They would be working the same stuff from then on, not hesitating to call the other for updates, or to tell them about their own breakthroughs in the case. And Jason really appreciated the help - because that was what it was, even though he never expressly stated it.

Working in the field wasn’t half-bad either. As a matter of fact, Jason would occasionally admit to himself, maybe it was good. He would go so far as to say _enjoyable_ , even. The little shit had a mouth on him as sharp as his mind, and he was, startlingly, always thoroughly entertained watching it work so fittingly in the heat of battle. And he found he absolutely didn’t mind seeing the grin on Tim’s face when they were swinging through the city, smile splitting his face in half as the wind flapped through their clothes, the night’s breeze on their faces as cold as the shadows that masked their ascent to the rooftops.

And after a while of that the calls had branched out to more than just business, the both of them talking late hours into the night teasing each other about the most obscure bullshit - like Tim’s nerdy pjs that Jason had seen him wear more than once while they worked together, or the abhorrent posters Jason would plaster all over his safehouses to cover the bullet holes in the walls. And each time, when Jason got off the phone, giddy feeling in his stomach, he would almost be taken over by the urge to giggle like a little school girl. 

And that was when he knew - he was _fucked_.

Timothy Drake made him want to believe in himself - and also tear himself down, all at the same time.

Which was why he couldn’t- wouldn’t- _shouldn’t_ be working this case with him. Not this one, not this time.

Because it could never be true. These feelings he felt, they could never be validated. Never be _reciprocated_. Tim deserved better than the guy who held a knife to his throat, who had threatened him time and again to take what was precious to him. Who had clasped his hands around his neck and _squeezed_ -

“Dammit,” Jason cursed at the dark stain on his favorite shirt, the one with the Wonder Woman logo printed on the front. He had planned on wearing it today, for good luck, but now that plan had gone to shit and he was fresh out of clean clothes that he hadn’t already packed in his duffel bag. He huffed and settled on the one he was already wearing - which was worth noting that he’d slept in, but hopefully the family didn’t really mind. In fact, if it rubbed Bruce the wrong way, then maybe he’d count that as a bonus. 

He locked his safehouse behind him as he walked out towards the black car waiting in front. He was met with a blue gaze and familiar grin as he climbed into the back seat. Bruce and Dick were in front, looking at them through the rear-view mirror. “Ready?” the omega beside him asked softly, and Jason grinned back at him.

“Born that way,” he returned, and Tim laughed.

*~*~*~

Despite not being as actively opposed as Jason, Tim’s reluctance in going forth with this mission was not one to be ignored. Although he didn’t necessarily mind doing the whole “fake couple” deal, he did mind _who_ he was doing it with.

Tim had a condition. He had presented as an omega at age 14, which was 2 years later than most, although the signs had all been pointing towards it already years before. Even then, after a few months under his parents’ observation and after they had gone for a consultation at the clinic, they discovered that Tim’s instincts were… _muted_.

Tim did not feel attraction as his omega peers did, did not feel inclined to bend to an Alpha’s will or even respond to their scent stimuli. In the beginning Tim saw this as a complete win, using it to his advantage when he realized that despite his lack of a response to his own instincts, this did not affect how others responded to _him_. 

At every Drake Industries meeting and now, every Wayne Gala, without fail, he would be approached by the most reprobate individuals, openly ogling him with appraising eyes and only stopping to bend down to whisper in his ear how sweet he smelled or attempt to seduce him with empty words. And when Tim rejected them, they would growl their displeasure - enough to make most omegas whimper and melt at their feet. Tim, however, would simply scoff and walk away, chin up and haughty smile in place as he watched them slump in surprise and defeat.

It wasn’t until his second, _painful_ heat that he realized his perk did not come without its consequences.

The cramps that announced its arrival should have been his first warning, but then again it had only been his second heat and he didn’t exactly have a clue on how these things were meant to proceed. All he knew was that he was hurting, really badly, the sharp, stinging pain rhythmically giving way to a dull pulsing ache every hour. It was so bad he couldn’t walk, and making any more noise above a whimper would send excruciating shocks throughout his body. 

And that had only been the beginning. Throughout the rest of the week, he was bedridden, and utterly _insatiable_. All his repressed need and want that he should have been experiencing during the three months before his heat was coming back, washing over him in waves of burning heat, as he tried desperately to sate himself. And in spite of his best efforts he could barely bring himself over the edge, unable to stave off the worst of it.

In the throes of his agony he remembered thinking, _wishing_ , that he had not been born an omega.

It wasn’t until the worst was over that his mother informed him that his heat was abnormal. Cramps were not meant to cripple them, and having something inside him was supposed to make him feel _good_ , not amplify his dissatisfaction. Tim simply groaned in reply, now wishing that if he were to be born an omega, that he would’ve at least been a _normal_ omega. No advantage was worth the pain he’d been through and the thought that it would be like that for all his heats to come was enough to agonize him further.

And so Tim Drake suffered every three months, through each and all of his weekly heats.

That was, until, Jason Todd.

Or more specifically, Red Hood.

Granted, their first meeting hadn’t been all that ideal, and Tim definitely did not appreciate having a knife to his throat while someone threatened his mentor. However, the scent of Alpha wafting around him was a different story. Tim had barely recognized the feeling, having gone his whole life without it, the stirring of heat latent in his gut a foreign sensation - only knowing that it had felt _good_.

He hadn’t thought of it much after, attributing it to simply being in contact with another alpha - yes, that was it. It was just his touch-deprivation, and besides that he was an enemy, and he too would be defeated like all the others before and that would be the end of it.

But of course it hadn’t. After a few more shenanigans and a lot more drama, fate had decided that they had to be acquainted once again, and it took a few months into it for Tim to _realize_ \- realize that it was because this was Jason, it was _his_ scent, _his_ body that did this to Tim, _his_ teeth marks he needed around his scent gland, and nobody else’s. 

And he didn’t know why, or how this was even possible. How could he be so unresponsive to everyone but this one alpha? Granted, he was a beautiful specimen of an alpha, tall and broad and _packing_. And god he was beautiful, face plain with glee as they swung through the city, wind parting his hair to expose the white streak Tim had become so familiar with, and Jesus- those muscles flexing in the heat of battle, they would the death of him. And it was then that Tim decided - he didn’t really care. He hadn’t known what he was missing out on until Jason Todd, and he was going to milk it for all it was worth.

After that Tim Drake’s heats became just that little bit more bearable, with the thought of the red-masked alpha to comfort him.

Of course, he wasn’t so comfortable now, sitting next to Jason with the scent of the alpha thick in the car as he sat next to him. Tim had had more than a few minutes to think about it as they drove through the residential streets of Bludhaven, and he’d finally deduced that his shirt was probably not new - in fact, Jason probably slept in it. And the mere thought of that, of the alpha’s face settled so peacefully, snoring softly with his hair all mussed up-

“Alright back there?” Dick asked from the front. “We’re almost to the apartment complex, just a few more turns,” he alerted them. _Well, shit._ Tim only had a few more turns to solve his little problem, and he sincerely hoped his scent patch was doing its job to make sure none of the alphas in the car noticed how hot and bothered he was getting. 

Closing his eyes, he tried to distract himself with other thoughts. The mission, the ramifications of their investigation, Bruce’s schematics, _Damian…_

Yep, that should do it. He was certainly calmer than before and now-

Tim stiffened as he got a fresh whiff of alpha, opening his eyes to notice Jason leaning over his lap as he reached over it. “What-” Tim squeaked, and Jason pulled back. “Oh hey, Timbers, you’re awake,” he said, giving a yawn of his own. “We’re here,” he gestured with a tilt of his head, pulling Tim’s attention towards the sprawling complex of unassuming buildings. 

“Home sweet home,” Jason proclaimed, stretching when he got out of the car. Tim frowned as he opened the trunk, noticing that the duffel bag had been the only thing Jason brought with him. They would be staying here for the next few weeks in the same apartment, and there was no guarantee how long the mission would take.  
“You know, you should’ve packed more,” he told the alpha who was moving to help him unload the equipment while Dick spoke with Bruce. Jason smirked at him. “Oh, nagging me, are you, boyfriend dear? I didn’t know we needed to be in character already,” he teased.

Tim rolled his eyes, but he was smiling.


	3. Chapter 3

Jason snorts as Tim lugs the bulky coffee machine up the stairs to their shared apartment. “Trust you to bring your favorite, completely portable accessory piece along,” he says, one arm also full with other equipment they would need for their investigation. Tim carries more in his backpack, hands currently occupied with the two-foot tall heavy metal contraption. He huffs. 

“What are you talking about? We can’t forget the most important piece of all,” he says in mock indignation, pausing for a moment to figure out how to do this more efficiently. Jason rolls his eyes before scooping up the machine in his other arm. “Hey- What-” Tim squeaks in surprise, arms still outstretched from when they were about to grab the appliance, but Jason pushes onward. He takes a look back at the floundering teen, and asks “You coming?” waiting as Tim stands for a full second in astonishment. Then he nods, fighting the blush he knew was creeping up his face at the oddly thoughtful gesture.

Jason huffs as he puts down the coffee machine on the kitchen counter, Dick and Bruce following into the living room with the other bags and suitcases. “You know, you really don’t need more coffee,” he smirks as Tim’s head pops out of the room, always ready to fight anyone opposing his stance on the caffeinated poison he thinks qualifies for a morning drink. “You can’t stop me,” he shot predictably. Jason grins. “Yeah, but those bags under your eyes beg to differ,” he retorts, not really meaning it, because even though it was true that Tim’s eyes were going dark underneath he was still drop-dead gorgeous and Jason thought it was only fair to give him shit for it.

“Yeah? Well, you, you…!” Tim starts next. “You think that white streak makes you look cool? It’s just a clump of white hair, you… You grandpa!” he screeches at him. Jason gives a comically loud gasp. “Oh, _now_ it’s personal,” he says in mock seriousness and tackles Tim in a play-fight, much to Dick’s amusement as he sits on the couch.

“Alright, you two,” Bruce says, turning to face them, and they rush to pull apart, Jason giving Tim one final shove before they do. Bruce sighs. “I’m sure you’re aware that I put my complete faith in you both,” he begins as Tim aims a kick at Jason’s shin. “But,” he states firmly, calling their full attention. “A few reminders wouldn’t hurt,” he finishes, placing himself in between them.

“I’m sure you know the ideal direction for this case to go - preferably you should make a little headway into the investigation first, before the real undercover work begins. Don’t alert anyone we don’t want to be alerting. Get a real grasp of the situation first before you act. And… don’t make too much noise,” he says, and although Jason knows he’s speaking to the both of them, he doesn’t miss the half-second side-glance in his direction. Jason scowls and looks away.

“And, last but not least…” Bruce steps closer to them, and for a second Jason thinks - _There’s more?_ Before he is inadvertently pulled into an awkward hug, crushed alongside Tim. “Take care,” Bruce says, resting some of his weight onto them. Dick makes a show of wiping his eyes on his sleeve, making exaggerated sniffling gestures over Bruce's shoulder as Jason scowls at him, knowing exactly who put B up to this.

After a moment too long Tim clears his throat and pats Bruce on the back. They pull away awkwardly, none of them meeting each other’s eyes. “Uh, you too… Bruce,” Tim says, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah, what he said,” Jason puts in, feeling rather strange as he focuses on a spot on the wall in front of him. Bruce pats both of them on the shoulder before turning around and heading for the door. Dick grins at them, moving outside to shut the door behind him, then turns and gives them a thumbs up. Jason flips him off.

When the door finally closes, they turn to each other. Tim blinks once, and then bursts into laughter. It isn’t long before Jason joins him, chuckling at the uncharacteristic show of affection. “Dick and his stupid ideas,” Jason grumbles. “You think that was his first hug?” Tim laughs again. “Probably in a long time,” Jason snorts, turning back towards the rest of the suitcases. “You gonna help me unpack, Timbo?” he gestures at the trolley-bags and cases in front of them. Tim sighs one final time, wiping the tears forming at the corners of his eyes. “Yeah, guess we should,” he agrees.

They convert the biggest of the three spare rooms into a makeshift lab, complete with all the assessment apparatus - including a 9 x 24 inch monitor that sits on a table alongside the chemical analysis equipment they would be using for the investigation. 

Once they finish setting up, the clock beside them announces that it was currently 2:30 in the afternoon. Tim gets up to yawn and stretch, and Jason can’t help but notice the little sliver of smooth skin that shows when he lifts his shirt up. Tim puts his arms back down and Jason tears his eyes away, pretending to focus on the surveillance equipment.

“I think I’ll finish setting up in my room,” Tim declares, moving toward the door. “Then maybe… we can go out for lunch?” he asks, still facing the door, lest the blush on his face show and consume him. _It’s not like it was a date or anything, it was just normal to ask your investigation partner, right?_ He thinks. _Your hot alpha investigation partner,_ his mind followed with unhelpfully.

“Actually, I was thinking I could, uh… cook? Or something,” Jason replies, swallowing down the nervousness he felt. “Bruce brought some fresh meat and vegetable stock. Probably Alfred,” he laughs. Why did he laugh? It wasn’t that funny.

“Oh! You cook?” Tim asks, turning around in surprise. Jason turns away and coughs before facing back. “Yeah, sometimes,” he nods. “When I got that vigilante free time, you know?” he laughs. _Good one, Jason._ He inwardly kicks himself. To his relief, Tim laughs too.

“Yeah, I know. I didn’t realize how much empty space I had on my schedule when I stopped school,” he agreed. Jason widens his eyes in surprise, before snorting. “You’d think you’d be using it to catch up on sleep,” he teases. Tim rounds on him, grinning. “Oh? Who’s the nagging boyfriend now?” he shoots back, and Jason shakes his head, smiling, before turning back to the table.

*~*~*~*~

It isn’t until much later that the both of them get to eat, the setting sun telling them it was much closer to dinner now rather than lunch. Jason had attempted to make steak and vegetables, but after a trifle complication where he’d asked Tim to stir fry the string beans and he’d inadvertently ended up flambeing them and almost burning the ceiling instead, they’d ended up settling for just steak.

“You know, usually you use wine when you flambe,” Jason smirks, pouring out the sauce onto his plate. Tim snorts. “In my defense, how was I supposed to know the oil would fucking _explode_ when I put the beans in?” he huffs, blushing in embarrassment. “Because they weren’t _dry_ yet, genius boy wonder,” Jason rolls his eyes in amusement. “Hmph. Whatever,” he said, pouting his lips and glaring at his food. It was cute, Jason thought as he grinned. Teasing the genius boy wonder was pretty fun.

“Timothy Drake - can sort out the components for your resident alien technology within five minutes, but can’t even stir-fry string beans,” he chuckles and Tim kicks him under the table. _Ouch._ Okay, that hurt. It was sometimes easy to forget that the kid was just as lethal as any of the other bats, despite being the only omega of the family. Tim looks satisfied at his pained grunt, and continues eating.

When they finish, it’s already dark out - and perfect for what they were about to do.

“Ready?” Jason asks under his helmet, the sprawling view of the city below them beckoning to the two waiting on the rooftop. Tim turns to face him, wearing his own smile, the cool night breeze parting his hair.

“Do you really have to keep asking?” he grins, before shooting his grapple line and swinging off into the night. Jason laughs as he follows.


	4. Chapter 4

Jason huffs lightly as he runs behind Tim, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, missing the feel of the cold on his cheeks and the wind in his hair. On the other hand, he doesn’t mind the way Tim glances back smirking every few blocks, the way he can almost see the challenge glinting in his eye through the cowl as Red Robin maneuvers himself, agile in every twist and turn, almost teasing in the way he seems to want to lose Jason on his trail. Jason smiles behind his mask, idiot that he was, never one to turn down a challenge.

“So that’s how it’s gonna be, huh, you little shit,” he mutters, pulling out his grappling gun and shooting for the next building, matching Tim move for move. “ _Nightwing’s intel says it should be around the next corner,_ ” Tim says into the comm next to his ear. “ _Think you can keep up?_ ” he asks next and Jason can almost hear the smirk in his voice.

He laughs, panting with exertion, before he rises to the bait. “Last one there’s a stinky bat,” he replies, landing on the metal fire escape before launching himself over the railings at a lamp-post and sliding down into the alleyway below. When he turns the corner, Tim’s there, leaning against the school gate and inspecting his nails. “Guess someone just earned the title stinky bat,” he sniffs, and Jason snorts and rolls his eyes in amusement. “How the hell?” he asks, and Tim has the gall to shrug. “I’m just faster, I guess,” he teases and Jason gives him a light shove as he stumbles, laughing.

“So, this is it, huh,” Jason looks up at the college, silver letters beside the gate announcing “BLUDHAVEN UNIVERSITY” bathing in orange and white hues under the street lamps. Tim gets to work immediately, installing one of the surveillance cameras they brought and tucking it neatly out of sight behind one of the letters where it couldn’t be seen, but still had a good view of the people entering and leaving the school.

“Where did N say the omega was seen last?” Jason asks, eager to get a move on. “The data he gathered says witnesses last saw her near the tool shed.” Tim replies, looking up from his handiwork. “She was an agriculture student,” he added. “When the school opens, we can check the places she had her classes,” Red Robin finally stands up. Jason nods in agreement. “For now, though…” he squints at the school again, trying to see how far the buildings go.

“I can finish setting up the surveillance equipment,” Tim says, fiddling on his watch. “And you can check the shed. Hopefully there’ll be some samples we can use. Can you do that for me?” he asks, a teasing tone edging into his voice again. Jason snorts as he taps on his helmet to access the map Tim sent him. “For my boyfriend dearest? Anything,” he mocks, smiling at the laughter as they both jump the gate.

Jason has to swing by several buildings before getting to the shed itself, noting that the campus was fucking _huge_. How were they going to find clues in a place this big? It was going to be a pain in the ass, that was for sure.

“How big is this place anyway? Owners must be loaded,” Jason mutters into his comm, swinging by another huge building, before he finally spots the marginally tinier structure below, surrounded by caution tape as he makes his way towards it. Tim snorts humorlessly into the comm. “ _Like you wouldn’t believe,_ ” he comments back. Jason finally lands on the ground, grass muffling his footsteps as he sidesteps the tape, unpacking the swabbing apparatus he was going to use to collect samples. 

“Ooh, is that displeasure I detect? Do tell,” he half-jokes, taking off his mask to scent the air. Tim seems to contemplate for a while, before deciding to tell him, “ _You can read Nightwing’s file at home. He has a lot of… notes._ ” Tim finishes mysteriously, and Jason would have asked if he hadn’t caught a whiff of omega scent right then. He makes a mental note to read the file, before focusing completely on the task at hand.

He follows his nose to where the scent is thickest, leading him to the pathway to the door of the shed. He bends down, the faint smell getting only slightly stronger as he inspects the gravel. He inhaled deeper, allowing himself to detect more pheromones as they entered his nose. _Distress… and something else._

He picked up a swab, swiping at the air around the stone path, before depositing it in a special case and choosing another swab for the walkway itself. He traveled down it, further away from the shed where the scent seemed to be stronger… and that was when he finally picked up on it. _Arousal. Distress and arousal._ Never a good combination. _What kind of fucked up asshole...?_ he wondered as he went, the scent only growing in both potency and urgency as he kept going further and further down the path-

The smell ended abruptly where the gravel met the grass, making Jason frown. He looked around. 

His instincts told him the trail picked up again, somewhere nearby, but he doubted he could get to it, considering most of the school was closed right now. 

“ _Red? I’m just about finished here. All good over there?_ ” his comms crackled to life. “Yep, just finished too. I think I got some samples we could use,” he replied, placing the swabbing equipment back in his jacket as he reached for his grapple. He could hear the sigh of relief through his earpiece, and he smiled. The thought that someone was out there, harming omegas, made him want to finish the mission and catch the scumbag all the more.

*~*~*

“Damn,” Jason murmured as he finished reading Dick’s notes on the case profile he’d made for Bludhaven University. Tim chuckled. “Yeah, I know. Bucket of rainbows and sunshine, isn’t it?” he said sarcastically, not turning away from the computer where he was analyzing the samples Jason had gathered.

Apparently the school had been around for centuries now, and was one of the most prestigious universities in the city. However, at some point in history, things had taken a turn for the worse and now the place was a breeding ground for corruption and discrimination. The owners of the college had used the school’s influence to hold significant sway on the city’s employment rates - especially in their upper echelons, where people were expected to fill in elite positions.

Majority of the students who were admitted came from wealthy families, the school prioritizing the kids who were rich enough to pay despite the scholarship programs being meant for those in need. Of course, the rich meant only one thing - the school was mostly filled with alphas, the population ratio 10:1 for alphas to betas and 100:1 for omegas. This made it an echo chamber for beliefs like omegas being meant to stay at home, produce and care for pups, or that alphas had rights over them, and there was nothing wrong with reminding them of their place. 

The few omegas and betas who were there were either insurance for other wealthy families, or had gotten in on their own merit - before they realized they made a horrible mistake, but it was way too late.

“Damn,” Jason says again. Dick’s notes were very thorough. “But why would he pick a place where there aren’t many omegas?” he pondered, rubbing his chin as he sat on one of the swivel chairs they had in their make-shift office. “I’ve theorized about that,” Tim says, stretching in his own chair. _Of course you have_ , Jason says in his head. “And I’ve come up with two possible options,” Tim continues. “One - it’ll make it harder for anyone to find him and weed him out,” he says, holding up one finger. Jason looks up. “And two,” Tim holds up another finger. “All the omegas who get into Bludhaven either come from kind, rich parents, or are really, _really_ smart,” Tim puts his hand down. Jason frowns, realizing what Tim was getting at. “Well, I guess we’ve already established our guy is a fucking creepo who looks for specific things in his omegas,” Jason agrees.

“The first option though…” Jason says, trailing off. This time Tim grins at him. “I’ve just finished analyzing the samples. There was a little bit more than just omega pheromones in the sample you got. Guess what I found,” he says, pride evident in his voice. Jason drags the swivel chair to look over his shoulder. 

It was plain and clear what Tim had found - there, at the bottom of the screen, beside a 3d model of a molecule were bright green letters spelling out “Pheromone type C - Classification: Alpha”. Jason widened his eyes in excitement. Each pheromone was unique to each person, and the fact that Tim had found some among the omega pheromones meant-

“Can you-” Jason began but Tim shook his head before he could finish. “I’ve tried to reassemble the proteins into every possible DNA combination, but it’s no use - it was too messy, and still too general. We don’t have enough of it to arrive at any conclusive evidence,” he sighs. Jason grunts in disappointment. “At least we had enough to identify the pheromone type,” Tim offers, smiling hopefully at him, and Jason smiles back. “Yeah. We should be able to narrow it down from that,” he says reassuringly. “Good work, babybird,” he smiles wider, and Tim has to turn away to hide the flush on his face.

“You want steak and flambe vegetables tonight?” Jason yawns, facing the door. Tim groans. “You’ll never let me live that down, will you,” he returns, burying his face in his palms. “Nope,” Jason laughs. “After all, what are boyfriends for?” he quips, winking at him before he leaves the room. Tim doesn’t try to stop the grin that fights its way onto his face.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had fun writing this chapter! Now that I've finally finished setting the stage, the shenanigans may begin heheheh >:)
> 
> Hopefully you guys like it too! If it's alright with you, please leave your comments or critiques on the chapter, they never fail to make my day :)

Jason frowns at the sign, the silver letters looking more obnoxious in the daylight, announcing to everybody exactly what school they were standing in front of - as if someone would actually get lost trying to find the huge and equally obnoxious campus. His thoughts are interrupted when a car honks behind him, and he turns to find Tim leaning out of the window of a maroon vintage Ford Mustang - which must have been red once, but as far as Jason was concerned, the brownish color wasn’t anything to complain about. Jason’s eyes widen and he waits for Tim to park by the curb before he approaches.

“What’s with the sweet ride?” he asks, accompanying Tim as they both walked through the school gate and into the campus. “Bruce left us some keys in the cases I checked this morning. A note said it was parked in the apartment garage, and I figured it would be quicker than walking,” Tim replied, before pausing in front of the school billboard, prompting Jason to stop too. “What?” he asked, as Tim stared at one of the flyers in particular. 

In big, white letters it said “Bludhaven University - 600th ANNUAL FOUNDATION BALL!” Jason noted that obnoxiousness was quickly becoming a theme in the place. He snorts. “They have a ball? How do they afford that kind of shindig?” he says, squinting at the details covered in silver glitter. Tim gives a frown of his own. “With the ‘tuition’ money, probably,” he huffs. Jason notes that he doesn’t look too pleased. 

He’s heard of the event from Dick before, but after hearing pieces of bad news one after another about the place, it all kind of blurs together. All he remembers is that the event was just another place for the school’s corruption to run rampant, students and parents alike sucking up to the teachers and the alumni, paying who they could to give their children the easy way up. 

Jason keeps thinking about it until he hears Tim mumble “utterly pretentious” under his breath before they enter through the doors of the academic building and he doesn’t have time to ponder it as he notices that all of the gazes are on them.

Majority of them seem to have paused what they were doing, many of them standing in front of half-open lockers or simply stopping to stand and stare. Tim immediately reaches for Jason’s hand, and he accepts it, remembering the mission as both of them walk through the hallway. Jason tries to recall if they did something to warrant this attention, and begins to inspect the stares directed towards him.

A few of them of them definitely betrayed thinly veiled attraction - but most of them were hard, cold and calculating, appraising him, as if they were sizing up the competition. The he looked at the people staring at Tim, and found something _worse_. They were ogling him, shameless in the pursuit of trying to undress him with their gazes, their eyes following his slender figure down the hallway like a predator stalking prey. 

Jason glared at them before looking back at Tim, and was impressed to find that the omega didn’t show any signs of being bothered by it, each of his steps as unfaltering as the last. But then Tim squeezed his hand, and Jason didn’t miss the way his eyes darted in his direction for a quarter of a second before facing forwards once again. That was all he needed. Jason squeezed his hand for a second of solidarity, before letting go and feeling Tim’s momentary sense of panic. Then he scooped an arm around his waist, pulling him closer to his side, and smirking at all the alphas he knew were still watching. He relished the sound of the few growls thrown in his direction.

To his credit, Tim played his part well, blushing bashfully and keeping his gaze on the floor. When they arrived in front of room 1003, Jason didn’t hesitate to pull Tim’s chin towards him and give him a kiss on the cheek. “See you later, babe,” he said, louder than most people would have so that the whole hallway would hear it. Tim blushed even redder, and Jason really had to applaud his acting skills.

“I- yeah,” Tim replied, looking away. _Wait, is he actually flustered?_ Jason thought, laughing to himself. _Is he embarrassed because of all the people watching?_ he deduced. _That must be it_ , he decided, before getting struck with the grand idea to tease Tim further. 

“What was that, babe?” he said, as loud as the first time. Tim flushed, looking back at him. Jason cupped a hand behind his ear and tilted his head. Tim seemed confused at first, before he seemed to put it together and glared at Jason. He only grinned wider and leaned in further, not giving in. “What? Louder, babe, I can’t hear you,” he said, barely containing his desire to snicker. Tim resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “See you later,” Tim sighed, before continuing. “Babe,” he finished, blushing so bright that Jason thought he would overheat.

“Alright,” he finally allowed himself a small laugh, grabbing Tim’s hand to press one last kiss to his knuckles, before allowing the omega to stare at him in a second of amused surprise and escape into the confines of his classroom. Jason turned and walked to his own class, grinning the entire way.

*~*~*

Of course, Jason’s mood was promptly dampened as he was reminded exactly what kind of place he was in. The hierarchy was clear, and as much as he didn’t want to be a part of it, people seemed insistent on dragging him along with them. 

Currently he was sitting in his literature class, which Jason was pleased to note was one of the few classes Bruce had signed him up for besides the mandatory subjects. Apparently he was a literature grad- and so were the other twenty or so students in the room, many of whom were still staring at him, not even bothering to disguise their interest. 

Once again it puzzled him why people seemed so keen on giving them the unnecessary attention. Surely new kids were not that rare. _Slow news day?_ he wondered as a girl looking at him whispered something to her friend, who giggled. He frowned. With things like this, it was only a matter of time before-

“Hey, man,” said a redhead, pulling up a seat next to his and leaning forward. Jason grunted in acknowledgement, shifting slightly. He knew this would happen eventually - the way people were staring, someone would be approaching soon. “Hey,” he replied uncertainly. “I’m-” he began, but the guy put a hand up. “We _know_ , man, you’re Jason Petranovic,” he said, reminding Jason of the fake last names that Bruce had chosen for them. Honestly he thought his sounded like a disease, the way it rolled off the boy’s tongue.

Just then his thoughts were interrupted as the kid beside him smacked him on the arm with one of his hands, his voice dropping to a whisper. “So, how’d you do it? Huh? ” he asked, leaning in so far into Jason’s personal space that it prompted him to move back up a little, his nose detecting the scent of mild alpha pheromones. 

“What?” he asked, brows furrowed in confusion. The student looked like he wanted to roll his eyes. “How’d you _do_ it, man? Come on, seriously. You don’t gotta hide it; Everybody’s got shit on their records here,” he said, smile glinting dangerously. Jason didn’t like where this was going. “I… Pardon?” he asked again, knowing he wouldn’t like the answer.

This time the student really did roll his eyes. “Dude. You really expect everyone to believe that three months into the school year, you got in here- Bludhaven _fucking_ University-” he gestured around with his arms, “by coming _clean_? Yeah right,” he snorted. Jason didn’t think it was very funny. “So, which is it? Mom and pop got that dough, huh? Who’d they pay to do it?” When he didn’t reply, the student leaned in again. “Or is it _that_?” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Jason stood up, feeling uncomfortable with the conversation. “I’m sorry, I don’t think you know what the fuck you’re talking about,” he said, as calm as he could, before turning to go in the opposite direction. Then, “I saw your little omega friend,” the student leered, and Jason froze in his tracks. The entire classroom fell silent. “Did _he_ do it?” the student demanded, and Jason bristled as he felt the other students watching him, wondering if he would rise to the challenge. “Tell us. Who’d he _fuck-_ ” the boy doesn’t get to finish his sentence before his collar is choking him, his feet two inches above the ground as Jason pins him against the wall. “Shut. The fuck. Up.” he snarled, deliberately letting his pheromones loose, saturating the air with his scent. With his _anger_.

Just then, the teacher comes in, and students scramble to their seats. Jason drops the boy, who scampers away, hiding in his own seat at the other end of the room. The pheromone scent drops, and he is left standing with his mouth gaping open as he tries to come up with some kind of explanation.

“Sir,” he begins. He realizes he hasn’t thought much farther than that. The professor simply sighs and nods his head. “Mister Petranovic,” he says, exasperatedly, as if this was a common enough occurrence that he wasn’t fazed by it anymore. “Since you are new here, and since I’m aware of mister Stafford’s… tendencies, I’ll let this slide,” he directs his steely gaze back to Jason again. “But any more shenanigans, and I’ll have you reported to the disciplinary office. Do I make myself clear?” he asks, his heavy eyebrows setting firmly on his face to emphasize his point. “Crystal, sir,” Jason nods obediently in reply, giving the man his best thank-you-and-I’m-sorry smile. The man nods in reply. “Take your seat,” he says and Jason obeys.

The rest of the day is filled with even more looks and whispering, and Jason can feel himself getting tenser and tenser as it drags on. Now, whenever someone even remotely seems to have the bad sense of approaching in his direction, he finds it takes more and more out of him to hold back from snarling. He zones out for most of his classes, picking the window seat just so he can ignore the lecture going on in front. He sighs as he leans his shoulder against the wall, wanting nothing more than to go home, change out of his pheromone-drenched clothes, soak in the comfort of a hot shower, and maybe open a few packets of instant noodles. 

He sighs exhaustedly as he buries his face into his palm, pretending to read the book in front of him like he was supposed to be doing. Of course, it was hard to admit the one thing he wanted most right now. 

He _misses_ Tim. More than he ever did. It was easy enough to realize how much he enjoyed the smaller boy’s company, but he’d never known that it was possible for him to want it so badly in his absence. He wants to see him, _touch_ him, bury his nose in the soft scent, see the corners of his eyes crinkle when he smiles, the way he did it when he took Jason’s teasing with a laugh before hitting back just as fiercely…

God, Jason just wants to see him so badly right now.


	6. Chapter 6

This is just great. Tim is having the time of his _fucking_ life. It was splendid. Spectacular. Stupendous. Super.

Just as he’s about to run out of S-adjectives, a voice pipes up over his shoulder. “Oh! How about this one?” a blonde girl asks, holding up a thick wire with the rubber stripped off on both ends. “Yeah, that’ll do. Thanks Jacki,” Tim takes it from her with a smile, turning back to the Arduino motor shield peppered with jumper wires. Currently he was in his computer engineering class, which was what Bruce had decided was the next best thing after discovering that all the slots for the software engineering course were full.

Honestly, Tim wouldn’t have minded - if it weren’t for the stares burning themselves onto the back of his neck. Every time he turned around most of them had the decency to look away, or pretend to busy themselves with their projects, but there were always a few who lingered - particularly from a group in the back. One of them stood out from the rest, seeming to revel in it, as if waiting for Tim to squirm or finally meet his gaze each time he twisted his head.

“Tim? Are you alright?” Jacki asks, and it takes Tim a few moments before he realizes she’s talking to him. Tim nods at her. “I’m fine, Jackie,” he reassures, and she nods back, not looking convinced but not pressing him either. The girl, Jacki, was a beta and his project groupmate - and one of the better parts of the student body, Tim figured. Her kindness was a breath of fresh air from the tactless stares and loud whispers he had been receiving all day, and he was glad to have finally found someone who didn’t look at him like they were judging him, or like they wanted to devour him. Plus, she reminded him a little of Steph.

“Need some more help?” she asked, looking over his shoulder again. Tim shook his head. “It’s alright. I can finish this, then you can do the PCB board,” he smiled at her. She returned it, her expression going soft. “Listen, don’t let them bother you. They’re all just a bunch of blockheads with the attention span of four-year-olds. It’ll go away soon,” she reassured him. Tim laughed at her joke. Someone else, apparently, didn’t think it was that funny.

Tim spotted the movement in the corner of his eye, already anticipating the approach of the alpha even as he kept his head leaned down, seeing the rubber shoes appear in his vision first followed by ripped jeans and then a black leather jacket. He recognized him as one of the guys from the group - not the one who had been staring at him, thankfully - or so he thought. Perhaps “thankful” was the wrong choice of word.

“Hey, sweet lips,” the alpha said, leaning down to look at him. Tim doesn’t look up. “Leave him alone, Derek,” Jacki snarls behind him. The guy snorts. “You look a little strapped for company here,” he says, nodding mockingly at the blonde beta, who glowers at him. “Wanna hang with the right crowd? Maybe even show us a great time?” He smirks, looking back at his friends, who grin and chuckle maliciously in return. “Wouldn’t be your first, right?” he sniggered.

This time Tim looks up. “Excuse me?”

The guy looks surprised at his confusion. He recovers quickly, however, laughing and looking around the room, gauging the others’ reactions, before he looks back at Tim.

“Everyone knows there are only two ways an omega can get in here,” he sneers, lifting his chin at the smaller boy. Tim deadpans up at him. “One - mommy and daddy are stupid, but really rich and nice and ‘wanted to give you a fair shot at life’,” he grins, bending in even closer to Tim’s face. “Or two,” He leans in to whisper in Tim’s ear. “You were an important somebody’s wet little slut for one, _unforgettable_ night,” his lips brush against Tim’s hair, and Tim doesn’t hesitate to lift his leg at lightning speed and knee him in the crotch.

“Urk!” the guy grunts as he stumbles back, his friends rushing in to help him. One of them turns to him angrily. “Hey, that was dirty, you asshole!” he proclaims, and Tim almost wants to laugh. “Right - that’s why you approached me with four other guys twice my size, because you wanted a fair fight.” he snorts humorlessly. “Totally underhanded,” the other guy continues to grunt in pain, glaring up at Tim. He simply shrugs in reply. “Gotta give me credit - it’s a pretty small target,” he holds back the grin that threatens to show on his face, keeping it expressionless as he sees the alpha who had been watching him raise his eyebrows in amusement, and he doesn’t miss the swirling of interest in his eyes.

_So much for laying low_ , he thought. Right now he wanted nothing more than to see Jason, just so he could talk about the shitshow of a day he’d had.

Luckily his prayers are granted, and the final bell rings, signaling the end of the period. The group of alphas glare at him one last time, before ushering the other guy who groans and limps in an exaggerated amount of pain. Tim resists the urge to roll his eyes for the second time that day, repacking the unused electric components into a container and handing it to Jacki. 

“Thanks,” he tells her. “For what?” she asks, looking confused. “For standing up for me,” he smiles at her. “It’s nice to know someone has your back, you know?” he chuckles lightly. Jacki smiles back at him. “Hey, no problem. You can call on me anytime,” she says, taking the container from him. “Didn’t know you were a badass, by the way,” she laughs and this time it’s Tim’s turn to look confused. She looks at him in disbelief. “That stunt you pulled? Nobody’s stood up to Jake’s posse since-” she breaks off and looks away, coughing before meeting his eyes again. “Anyway, good job today. I didn’t expect you to know so much about the Arduino shield components,” she said, grinning gratefully. Tim smiled back. “I was taught well. And I’m sure you’ll do good too,” he replied.

They wave as they part ways in the hall, Tim going to the front gate where Jason had texted him they’d meet. He’s about to text back a reply, before someone suddenly stops in front of him and he isn’t able to pull back in time, crashing into a broad chest. He readjusts his grip on his phone, shaking his head, before looking up at the man. “I’m so sorry, I-” he stops as he recognizes the guy. 

It was the alpha who had been staring at him in the computer lab, now standing over him with a leering grin on his face, his friends standing behind him. “Hey, sugar hips. Going somewhere?” he asks. Tim looks around, but people seemed to give them a wide berth, not wanting to get involved. He felt a hand tug his chin upward, and he doesn’t miss the way the air swirls with the smell of strong alpha pheromones. “Hey, I asked you a question,” the alpha- Jake, according to Jacki - growls. It doesn’t affect Tim in the slightest bit.

He takes a step back, pushing away the arm touching him and the air’s scent spikes with the smell of both anger and interest. Most omegas would be whimpering by now. The scent grows stronger, the alpha drawing himself to his fullest height. Tim remains unfazed, and the scent gives way for frustration to permeate through, written all over Jake’s face. Apparently the other alphas detect it too, moving in closer.

_Shit_ , Tim thought, estimating his chances of fighting his way out of this without blowing his cover. Currently, the number wasn’t that high.

All of a sudden, he felt a strong arm wrap around his waist, and he turned up to look at the face he’d been yearning to see the whole day. He reveled in the familiar scent, pushing away the others, the alpha’s pheromones soothing him as endorphin coursed through his brain.

“Hey, babe,” he says loudly, smiling down at him. “Jason,” he whispers, voice breathy with relief. A displeased grunt pulls their attention back to the group in front of them. Jason nods in acknowledgement. “Gentlemen,” he says calmly, but Tim can sense the tension in his stance and the subtle aggression in his scent. Tim puts his hand over Jason’s own on his hip and squeezes. He rubs his thumb over the callused knuckles as he feels Jason release some of the stiffness in his shoulders.

“We were in the middle of a conversation,” Jake declares, his curly black hair unable to mask the piercing blue glare of his eyes as he stared at them. Jason tuts. “Ah, well that’s unfortunate. You see, we have a previous engagement,” he says, feigning disappointment. He lifts his hand, and looks at the back of his wrist as if to check the time, but the lack of a watch makes it all the more of a mockery. “And will you look at that! We’re running late,” he exclaims, arm tightening around Tim’s waist, giving them a tight smile, before marching them both in the direction of the gate.

When they finally make it out of the school, Tim pauses. “The idea was to lay low, wasn’t it?” he sighs. Jason chuckles humorlessly. “Yeah, well. Something tells me we haven’t been doing a very good job,” he says in reply. Tim gives a light chuckle, shaking his head. “Yeah… but I don’t think it’s our fault. It’s been… _weird_ since we got here,” Tim turns toward the school, before realizing Jason’s hand is still on his hip. “Jason,” he says, blushing. “Oh, yeah,” Jason replies, removing his hand and then clearing his throat. Tim looks away, trying to calm his face down.

After a few beats, Tim pipes up again. “You know, I don’t feel like continuing the investigation today,” he tells the other. He felt exhausted. Keeping up his unbothered facade the whole day was starting to get to him. Jason exhales as well. “Yeah, me neither,” he agrees.

A sudden movement in the corner of Tim’s eye catches his attention, and he hears someone call “Psst!” as he turns, tugging on Jason’s sleeve. “What…?” Jason starts, assuming a defensive stance as they turn their heads searching for the owner of the voice.

“Over here!” the voice says, and Tim spots a familiar blonde head popping up behind one of the cars, its owner waving them over. Jason looks at her curiously, and Tim grabs his hand to follow before explaining. “It’s Jacki. She’s an engineering groupmate,” he elaborates. “She’s nice,” he adds, as though he needed to convince Jason. The man breathes in relief. “I was starting to think they’d gone extinct,” he joked, and Tim rolled his eyes in amusement.

When they reach her, Jacki drops her voice to a whisper. “We need to talk,” she says mysteriously. “But not here,” she adds, looking around. Jason gives Tim a weird look, but Tim nods at him reassuringly, before turning to face her again. “Do you know a place?” he asks, and she nods.

When they’re able to talk normally again, they’re seated in a side booth at a cafe, Jason and Tim facing Jacki on the opposite side of the table. The Ford Mustang is in the parking lot, the three of them having used it to get there, Jason driving under Jacki’s directions.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” Tim starts, stirring his black coffee. Jacki nods solemnly at him.

“I actually had to something to tell you. It’s…” she trails off, looking around again, before turning to face them. “You shouldn’t get yourselves involved with Jake,” she says, finally getting it out. Jason raises his eyebrows. “Maybe you should tell _him_ that,” he said, taking a sip of his iced tea. “Why?” Tim asked her. Jacki shook her head. “I…” she trailed off again, sighing before continuing.

“Do you know how the both of you got so… popular?” she asked them. Jason and Tim looked at each other before shaking their heads. She sighed. “It’s because of him,” she huffed. “Well, not exactly. It was one of his friends,” she dug out her phone from her jacket, scrolling for something. Then, she showed them her screen, displaying a twitter post that read:

" 'Congrats' to our two newest scholars! Bet they had to work real hard! Why don’t we give them a nice, warm, welcome into the old alma matter, eh?"

Along with a picture of Tim’s and Jason’s profiles on their applications.

Jason looked at the profile pic, the face and red hair looking somewhat familiar. He read the name beside it - Jared Stafford.

Jason wrinkled his nose. There was no doubt about it - he was the guy who Jason had met in his literature class. _Warm welcome my ass_ , he thought.

“What is it?” Tim asked, searching his face. Of course he couldn’t hide anything from Tim.

“I know that guy,” he snorted, pushing away his iced tea. Jacki looked at him pointedly. “You’ve met Jared?” she asked. “Yeah, you could say that,” Jason picked at the ice with his straw. “Can’t say it was a pleasure though,” he huffed. Jacki groaned. “I knew it - it’s too late,” she said, looking utterly defeated. This time Tim was the one to give Jason a weird look.

“What do you mean, Jacki?” he asked, and Jason could almost see the cogs whirring in the back of his head, trying to piece the whole thing together. Jacki took a second to compose herself again before replying. “Jake’s last name is Woodard,” she began, looking at them seriously. Tim noted that the sound of the name was familiar. Where had he heard it before? 

“If you’ve read any Bludhaven tabloid, then you’d recognize that name,” she told them. She waited, until Tim recalled seeing a billboard with the logo ‘Enroll at Bludhaven University today!’ and he remembered the features of the old man standing in the ad - curly black hair and blue eyes. His face lit up as he pieced it together.

“Woodard. Isn’t that the last name of the university owner?” he asked Jacki, understanding filling his eyes. It was even mentioned in Dick’s case file - _how could he have forgotten?_

She nodded at him. Tim rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Then he must have access to the school records. That’s probably how they got our pictures,” he deduced. She nodded again.

“Nowadays, the school barely gets any scholars anymore - especially after the school year’s already started. That’s probably how you caught their interest,” she sighed. “How horrible,” Jason snorted, taking another sip of his iced tea. “You have no idea,” Jacki looked at him, dead serious. “Jake and his friend group have free reign over the school. They can get away with anything,” she looked mournful as she stabbed a straw into her milkshake. Jason and Tim remained silent, waiting for her to continue. “Nobody bothers to keep them in line. All the teachers, staff, the disciplinary office - they always just turn a blind eye,” she sniffed, almost angrily. “The only one who could stand up to him was my best friend, Eva,” she growled, angry tears pricking at the edge of her eyes.

Jason and Tim turned to stare at each other in surprise, recognizing the name. They both turned back to face her. “Eva? Eva Price?” Tim asked, both of them leaning in to hear her answer. “The kidnapping victim?” Jason adds, regretting it immediately as Jacki bursts into tears. Tim gives him a pointed look and Jason has the grace to look ashamed. Tim reaches over the table to rub her shoulder. She tries to calm down and sobs into a tissue. “Sorry, Jacki,” Jason says awkwardly.

“No, no. I’m sorry, I really am alright. I’m sure you’ve heard all about her,” she said, her tone taking on an even more emotional quality. “She was an omega too. Top of her class in agriculture, and she didn’t take shit from anybody. Honestly, she was one of the best people in the campus. She was Jake’s ex,” she finished, looking like she wanted to cry again.

Jason and Tim turn to each other again, eyes wide as they both made a mental note to record the information.

“You remind me of her a lot,” she said as she wiped her nose with another tissue. Tim looked up, looking at Jason, before turning back to her. “Me?” he asked. She nodded. “Tim… you’re a good guy,” she said, as if she were reciting times tables. As if it was simply a fact - Tim was a good guy. She sighed. “That’s why I wanted to warn you. But it’s too late,” she repeated, sniffing. Tim furrowed his brows, confusion straining his expression. He gave her a look, silently asking her to elaborate. “Oh, Tim,” she looked at him, eyes going red again. “He likes you,” she finished.

Tim’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. Jason wore the same expression, but he recovered much more quickly, brows furrowing into a deep frown.

“How can you tell?” they asked simultaneously, startling themselves as they looked at each other.

She sighed for the nth time. “It started out much the same with Eva,” she sniffled. “I can tell by the way he looks at you. I saw the fiasco in the hallway,” she poked at her milkshake. “But what really cements it,” she leaned in, “Is that Jake Woodard is the kind of person who wants what he can’t get.” she concluded. “All the girls - even some of the alphas - fall at his feet the moment he releases his pheromones,” she looks at Tim solemnly again. 

“You are only the second omega to ever resist him.”


	7. Chapter 7

“This doesn’t make sense,” says Tim.

“So you’ve said,” Jason replies, setting down a tray beside him with two mugs.

Tim grabs one absentmindedly, muttering a “Thanks,” as he cradles the warmth in his lap. He had been staring at the monitor screen for the past hour, displaying two sequences of pheromone DNA: Eva Price’s and his own.

He’d thought he had studied every major point of correlation between the victims, but now, with the new-found information Jacki had given them…

He wasn’t alone. He’d thought about it before, had speculated about it, but had never actually observed it besides in his own head.

He shook his head, trying to refocus his thoughts.

He’d pored over Dick’s data for hours and hours, trying to find a characteristic that was common in every victim besides the fact that they were all omegas and had been in a relationship with an alpha - and had come up with nothing. In the end, they were forced to assume that the attacks were random. But now that he knew what he knew, he wasn’t so sure.

And if what he theorized was true, it just gave birth to more questions he’d more or less already pondered.

_Why was this person going after them? These omegas who were… none-receptive?_

_Was there something special about none-receptive omegas?_

_How many more were out there?_

_What did it matter that they had been in relationships with alphas?_

_Were they actually receptive to the alphas they’d been in relationships with? Did they respond to them, like he did to Jason?_

And the one he was trying to figure out right now:

_What made them different from other omegas?_

He took a sip from the mug Jason had given him, only to surprise himself with the taste and look down.

“Tea? Jason, you know I don’t… drink…” he was distracted as he let the aroma sink in for the first time. It smelled good. Calming… and fresh. A little like Jason.

He took a sip, and was once again surprised by the taste. It tasted like it smelled, only creamier. Not too sweet - just the way he liked it. He took another sip.

Jason chuckled, looking at him over his own mug. “You’ve been having too much coffee,” he gestured at the cups littering the table. “So I figured you might need a little refresher,” he told him, taking a sip from his own tea.

Tim snorts, looking back at the screen. “There is no such thing as too much coffee,” he declared, before taking another sip out of the mug. “Thanks, though,” he said, smiling gratefully but not tearing his gaze from the screen.

Jason looked at it from his perch on the blue beanbag they’d set up in the makeshift office-lab, which had quickly become his favorite lounge when they were working. “Whatcha lookin’ at, anyway?” he asked him.

Tim sighed before replying. “Nothing useful so far,” he sighed again before continuing. “When Jacki told us that Eva could resist Jake’s alpha pheromones, I figured…” he trailed off, realizing he was wandering into territory he’d never tracked with Jason before. Or much of anyone, for that matter. So far, only his parents and Bruce knew. His family and friends had always respected his space, so he’d never had to reveal that he wasn’t as responsive to pheromones as other omegas.

Then here was Jason, the only alpha his instincts had ever chosen to respond to. The alpha who never let his pheromones out of control in an omega’s presence, even when he and Tim hadn’t been on the best of terms, finding themselves on the opposite sides of a war. Who, after everything, had respected Tim and gained his trust in return.

And Tim didn’t want that to change. This dynamic they had, he was satisfied with it. That was what he told himself - even when it hurt him sometimes to think that they could never be more that that. And if he told Jason that he was the only alpha who had the power to make Tim feel things he’d never felt before, feelings most people chase after their entire lives, what would happen then? Would Jason even believe him? What if he misinterpreted Tim’s words, thinking that he was inviting Jason into something else than what they already had? What if Jason began to treat him just like everyone else, like some fragile omega, teetering around him like he was going to break? 

He didn’t want that. But how about Jason? Did he deserve to know?

“I also resisted Jake’s pheromones,” Tim began. Jason quirked an eyebrow, wondering what he was getting at. “You sure his pheromones aren’t just… weak?” he asked. Tim shook his head. “I can resist other alpha’s pheromones, too,” he said, deciding to tell him the truth. Well, some of it, anyway, conveniently leaving out the part where he couldn’t actually resist a particular alpha’s. Right now, it was too early. He would tell him when he was ready.

“I knew there had to be someone else out there, but I’ve never actually seen anyone,” he told him. “Until now,” he finished, watching Jason’s eyebrows rise progressively higher. Tim continued to explain. “I’ve been trying to find a common splice of DNA between me and Eva that might lead-” he was interrupted as Jason held up a hand.

“Wait,” he asked, looking confused. “What do you mean - you can resist alpha pheromones?” he asked, bewildered, brows still furrowed. “I mean I’m not affected like other omegas,” he replied patiently, knowing Jason had probably guessed it already but still helping him sink it in. “You heard Jacki- Jake’s pheromones were strong. What he was hitting me with, I should have been whimpering at his feet already-” Jason’s frown deepens, “but I resisted him.” Tim finished, realizing Jason’s expression was even more strained than when he had began.

“He was- using his pheromones to… _command_ you?” he asked, brows furrowing even further. “He tried to, but it didn’t work,” Tim added hastily at Jason’s quickly darkening expression. He recognized it as the one Bruce wore when someone went too far with Tim at the Wayne gatherings. Jason was pack after all, of course he would be protective of Tim - he should’ve thought of that before mentioning Jake.

“Anyway, he withdrew his pheromones when you came, so you didn’t smell them. But they were pretty strong,” he said, turning back to the computer and trying to change the subject. “I can’t find any common splices between me and Eva’s pheromones that suggest any uniquely specific trait, so I think we don’t have enough data. The DNA I’m looking for probably isn’t in our pheromones,” he said, glancing sideways at Jason, who he realized probably wasn’t listening with the way a scowl still lingered over his face. He sighed, shutting down the monitor before getting up and moving over to the alpha.

“Hey,” he said softly. Jason looked up. Tim smiled gently at him, before sitting down beside him on the beanbag. It was pretty big. “I’m okay, see?” Tim held up his arms, as if getting ready for an inspection. Jason quirked an amused eyebrow at him, before sighing and then chuckling. He pulled Tim in close for a hug. “Oh, babybird,” he murmured into his hair, before pulling back and cupping his face. Tim smiled up at him, putting his hand over his as Jason stroked at the skin above his cheek.

“You should get some sleep,” Jason told him gently. Tim pouted up at him. “You sound like-” he was interrupted as his watch buzzed with a notification. He grabbed it off the table and looked at the screen, eyes widening. “It’s one of the drones we sent to scan the city,” he said, surprise in his voice. “They found something matching Eva’s pheromone signature down at Halyard Street,” he looked up at Jason. “Maybe we should-” he was interrupted again with a “Nope,” as Jason wrested the watch out of his grip, before placing it back on the table. “Hey!” Tim protested, reaching out to grab it again, but a pair of hands grabbed him by the hips with an “Oh no you don’t,” before pinning him onto a firm chest.

“Jason!” he huffed, turning to face the man. He blew a strand of hair out of his face before resuming his pout. Jason grinned at him. “It's 1 a.m. in the morning, Timbo - and the police have combed through the whole city for the past week. You should get some sleep,” he repeated, not releasing his grip. Tim knew this was true - the notification told him as much, telling him the signature was at least a week old. Still he squirmed, trying to free his wrist from Jason’s hand, much to no avail. He huffed in frustration. “There are plenty of ways I could get out of this, you know,” Tim informed him, facing up in an attempt to look menacing, but only succeeding in making Jason want to coo at the adorable expression. 

“Yes, there are,” Jason agreed nodding. “But all of them involve hurting me, and you wouldn’t do that to your boyfriend dear, would you?” he said, giving a pout of his own. Tim growled, struggling harder, before giving up and simply laying his head on his chest, huffing. When he faced up again, Jason was hit with the full force of his cuteness as Tim gave him his best puppy-dog eyes expression. “Please?” he whimpered, and Jason almost gave in.

But he shook his head no, and Tim grumbled as he buried his face into the soft fabric of Jason’s shirt. “Lemme go,” he muffled, struggling weakly with his fists this time. Jason chuckled. “If I let you go, you’re going to keep working,” he predicted. “Maybe,” Tim replied to his chest. “Then tough luck, kiddo. We’re staying like this,” he said with finality, settling in on the beanbag with the omega pressed against him. 

“You’re so unfair, Jason,” Tim grumped as the alpha traced circles into his back with the same arm that was trapping him. Tim tried to fight the relaxation, tried to hold on to the tenseness of his muscles even as exhaustion seeped into them and sleep tugged at his eyelids. “So… unfair…” he drifted off as his eyes closed, letting himself rest against the warmth of the chest beneath him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Thank you so much for the nice comments! I really appreciated them <3
> 
> Anyway, this note here is a PSA bc my parents are home for the weekend, and they're for sure going to make me do some stuff （Ｔ∇Ｔ）  
> So hopefully I can still update daily, but if not then I hope you understand hehe. Thanks so much again!
> 
> (Also, please tell me what you thought of the tooth-rotting fluff this chapter, lol. I really enjoyed writing it x3)


	8. Chapter 8

“Mmhhh…” Tim awoke, half-opening his eyes to a slightly giddy feeling in his stomach. He felt… happy, and oddly satisfied. He took a deep breath, nuzzling the fabric underneath his cheek. He turned his head to rest on his chin, facing up at the person whose chest he rested on, giving him a sleepy smile. Jason rubbed his eyes, smiling back at Tim. “Morning, sunshine,” he murmured, arms coming back to wrap tighter around Tim.

“Jason,” he whispered back, giggling as he clumsily tried to lift himself up using his arms, his palms flat on the planes of Jason’s chest. When he finally succeeded, he looked up to see Jason grinning lazily at him. The giddy feeling came back tenfold. “What?” he smiled dazedly, before flopping down onto the junction where Jason’s neck met his shoulder. He felt him nuzzle into his hair, and he laughed softly at the sensations of Jason nosing at him. “…’at tickles,” he giggled, but didn’t pull away. “Smells good,” Jason replied, not stopping, only travelling downward to sigh at his neck.

Smiling, Tim pulled away, lifting himself up once more. When he could see Jason’s face again, a ray of morning light was shining down on them, illuminating speckles of dust in its wake. Jason cocked his head to the side with his lazy grin, his lips catching Tim’s attention. “Mmm,” Tim murmured as he looked down on them, looking beautiful and inviting in the half-light. Tim noted how the sunshine gave it a light pink hue, highlighting its curves and edges. He wondered how soft they would feel against his. He bent forwards to find out, eyes fluttering closed as he saw Jason do the same, both of them leaning in to close the distance-

“BEEP!” Tim’s watch buzzed with a notification, rendering him awake as they both turned up to look at it. Tim stumbled off Jason, rubbing his eyes and yawning. Okay, so maybe he wasn’t _fully_ awake just yet. He picked up the watch and looked down at the display, reminding him that his first class was in room 1003. Tim stopped rubbing his eyes as they widened in surprise. He read the message again. He looked at the time beside it. 9:51. Shit. Well, _now_ he was fully awake.

“Jason!” he exclaimed, tone in distress as he turned back to look at the alpha still sitting on the beanbag and rubbing his eyes. “Hm?” he replied, almost nonchalantly. “We’re going to be late!” he told him, rushing around the room and gathering his stuff. Bag, watch, jacket… he looked back at the alpha, who was still yawning and turning to look at their digital clock. He saw the realization settle in his widening eyes before he shot up from his seat, yelling “Oh shit, Timbers, we’re going to be late!” before rushing to his own room.

Tim rolled his eyes in amusement, packing his stuff into his sling bag. He gave the room a once-over, sights settling on the car keys on Jason’s desk, before picking them up and stuffing them in his bag. Then he rushed to his room for a quick change before they went.

When they were finally seated in the car, Jason trying to go as fast as he could without going over the speed limit, Tim found himself contentedly sleepy once again as the adrenaline of the initial shock wore off, nuzzling into his jacket in the front seat. For some reason or another, he found himself to be looking for a certain scent, finding it deeper in his inner clothes. _What was he thinking about, anyway? That was utterly ridiculous._

Once they arrived at school, he was more or less awake as they ran in, getting past the guard at the gate and going to their respective classrooms. They nodded a quick goodbye to each other as Tim reached his classroom, Jason rushing to the stairs at the end of the hall.

When he entered, hair disheveled and clothes a mess, he gulped, feeling the eyes on him as he walked to his seat. Their professor wasn’t there yet, so he’d made it in time. Thankfully they were seated by group, so he sat behind Jacki, who turned to smile at him in greeting. He smiled back, a little sheepishly. 

Their professor came in only seconds later, greeting them with a quick “good morning” and getting straight down to business as she told them they would be continuing their projects for the period. He sighed in relief, knowing he wouldn’t be able to comprehend any lessons in the drugged-up state his mind seemed to be in.

Their group got to work quickly - well, mostly him and Jacki, but at least they could count on the others to do most of the quicker tasks, setting them to prepping the PCB board. When they realized they didn’t have enough materials, Jacki volunteered to get some more for the group.

As he finally got to work, fingers nudging and prodding at the wires and electrical components in their respective slots, he was finally able to have a moment to himself, allowing him to steady his breathing and chase away the giddy, contented feeling that seemed to tow him under the waves of sleep. Maybe he was more sleep-deprived than he thought. _At least the activity’s helping_ , he told himself. This kind of thing was second nature, after all, helping him focus as he followed the instructions on the diagram.

After a while of going at it, his mind wandered to other thoughts - the case, in particular. He’d theorized that the person they were going for was after omegas who were non-receptive, but with only testimonial data on one victim, he couldn’t be sure. However, from what he gathered, non-receptive omegas were pretty rare. What were the chances that one of the suspect’s victims was a non-receptive omega? Perhaps it was just a coincidence?

 _No_ , he said to himself, shaking the thought away. His head echoed with one of the things Bruce had often taught him - _There are no coincidences_. He would have to gather more evidence, but his gut told him he was going in the right direction. He needed more DNA samples to work with, both from Eva and the other victims-

His thoughts were interrupted as he felt the presence of another person come up behind him. He realized he knew exactly _which_ person as he felt two arms cage him in against the table, and the “Hey, cutie pie,” only further proved him correct as he heard the familiar voice reaching him over his shoulder.

“Jake,” he replied coldly, not turning to face him. He hadn’t forgotten to record the alpha’s involvement in the case, either. “I have a boyfriend,” he said before the alpha could reply anything else. There was a few seconds of pause, and Tim suspected he’d startled him, confirming it as his scent changed to one of surprise, and then an undertone of anger and sudden irritation. Jake recovered quickly, however, dampening his own scent as chuckled darkly, letting his arms go, instead choosing to face Tim from his side as he leaned on the table.

“Oh, I’m not here for that,” he smiled tightly before continuing. “A little birdie said someone over here was really good with this… electric stuff. Pretty useful from a little birdie,” he grinned, and Tim could hear his friends muffling their laughter behind him. “You know the kind,” he said, gesturing with his hands. “Small, annoying, can hear them from all the way across the room,” he grinned further. “Blonde,” he shrugged nonchalantly, and Tim debated on whether or not he should give him the same treatment he’d given his friend.

“But she was very helpful. You see, me and my friends have a little… trouble understanding the diagrams,” he began, creasing his eyebrows in a mocking attempt to look pitiful. Tim almost snorts. “You sure that’s not just because you’re stupid?” he blurts before he can think about it. Jake’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise, and he looks back at his friends. One of them starts to approach, angrily, but Jake grins and puts up a hand to stop him, turning back to Tim.

“Big words, for such a small mouth,” he leers, once again bending in to invade Tim’s personal space, chuckling. “I’m not sure you know who I am,” he smiles, two inches away from the side of Tim’s face, hot breath on his cheek. He leans in even further, this time aiming for Tim’s neck. “Consider this your first lesson in-” he stops abruptly as he stumbles backward, a startled expression on his face and the back of his hand covering his nose. Tim’s brow creases in confusion as he looks at him, and his expression is mirrored in nearly half the class as they stare at the commotion.

Jake glares at him before recovering, his friends surrounding him. They turn to glare at Tim too, before Jake ushers them back to their original place at the other side of the room. Tim doesn’t have to look back to know they’re still glaring at him, but he’s still too confused to care. _What was that all about?_

Tim has two free periods after his first class, and he spends them with Jacki in the cafeteria. He yawns as he bites into a dry chicken sandwich, before taking a swig out of of his water bottle. His brow furrows again as he thinks back to what had happened in the classroom. He sniffs his shirt, not finding anything out of the ordinary - except for the pleasant, giddy feeling that erupted in his stomach again. Jacki hums from her perch across his, looking over at him. “You okay?” she asks. Tim looks up. “Oh, yeah, just… nevermind,” he says, taking another drink from his water. She quirks an eyebrow at him, not looking convinced. “Hey, something happened back there, didn’t it? You can tell me, you know,” she reassures him. Tim’s forehead creases even further.

“Does Jake have any allergies?” he asks her. She looks at him curiously. “Not that I know of. Why?” she quirks an eyebrow at him, before opening another packet of crackers. “It’s just… well, he was acting weird today,” he tells her. She gives him another curious look. “Weird how? He’s normally pretty dysfunctional anyway,” she laughs, turning back to her phone. Tim rubs his arms, not really knowing either why he was still pondering it. He decides to tell her anyway. 

“Well… basically he was kind of leaning in, but then he just reeled back for some reason? I honestly don’t know,” he laughs nervously. Maybe it was just his nerves and weird brain state today. He moves to take another sip from his bottle. Jacki shrugs. “It’s probably because you smell like Jason,” she tells him nonchalantly, and Tim does a spit-take. Jacki looks at him, startled, and then at the droplets of water splattered across the table. “I- Sorry,” Tim says, sheepishly, before wiping his face with the back of his hand.

She waves him off, laughing, before digging into her jacket pockets and producing a wad of tissue and handing it to Tim. “Wow, that was wild. You guys _are_ together, aren’t you?” she asks as she looks at him wiping the table. “We… yeah,” he chuckled nervously in reply. Come to think of it, that would explain the giddy, contented feeling he’s had all morning. And of course it was no wonder he smelled like Jason - he’d spent the night on his chest, and they were too much in a rush to even take a shower that morning.

Jacki laughs at his expression. “Awww, you’re blushing. You have it bad, huh?” she commented as she shoved another cracker in her mouth. Tim would have done another spit-take if he had been drinking his water. “I- wh- _me_?” he stuttered in disbelief, and Jacki looked at him, before gesturing around with a cracker. “Who else would I be talking to?” she asked, turning back to her phone. _Damn. Was he really that obvious?_

Come to think of it, he’d had a sweet dream that morning, about the sunlight cascading onto a certain alpha’s beautiful face, the soft yellowish hue highlighting his rugged features, and then they’d leaned in and almost kissed and- _oh shit_. It wasn’t a dream. _He’d actually tried to kiss his crush when he was half-asleep, without even brushing his teeth, and after a night of sleeping on his chest on a beanbag in their office-_

Tim buries his face in his hands and _groans_.

“No…” he whimpers, and Jacki chuckles and gives him a pitiful look across the table. “Aww, Tim. It’s okay, you know. He really likes you too, I can tell,” she chuckles. Tim’s head immediately shoots up before he can think about it, but he curls back in on himself before Jacki could notice the excitement. Of course she thought Jason liked him - that was his _job_. And they were _pretending_. 

_But if they were, then why did he lean in too?_

Tim almost jumps out of his seat when he feels a gentle hand grasp his shoulder. He looks up to see the face of an alpha grinning down at him. _Speak of the devil._

“Hey guys,” Jason turns to Jacki, sliding in to the seat next to Tim. “Hey, uh… mind if I borrow my boyfriend for a while?” he asks the blonde with an apologetic smile. Tim blushes at the words, and he coughs and looks away to try and cover it. Jacki grins and gives him a wink. “Sure, you can have him. Haven’t had enough last night, huh?” she jibes, and Tim glares at her as she slides out of the booth, snickering. Jason quirks an eyebrow at him, smirking, and Tim waves him off.

“Alright, boyfriend,” Tim starts, attempting to get down to business and ignore the way Jason’s smirk lingers. “What is it?” he asks finally, and Jason clears his throat. “I’m pretty much free after this. Was thinking I could check out that pheromone signature down at Haylard,” he tells him, and Tim nods. “Sure. I only have two more classes myself. I could finish up investigating the school,” he adds.

“Alright, then,” Jason yawns, slipping out of his seat. “Think you can handle yourself without me?” he smirks playfully and Tim scoffs. “Please,” he sniffs, getting out as well. Jason sighs, expression suddenly turning serious. “Just… careful around that Jake guy. My gut tells me he’s really bad news,” he says, his brows furrowing. Tim smiles at him. “Worried about your boyfriend? How sweet,” his tone comes out playful, but the smile is genuine. Jason looks back at him and snorts. “Seriously, though,” he remind him, and Tim nods. “Yeah, yeah. I can take care of myself, you know. Now go get ‘em, tiger,” he pushes Jason towards the exit, and he doesn’t miss the way his stare lingers a second longer than it has to as they wave goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg hi guys, if anyone's still reading this lol. Sorry for the week-long break! My mom ended up staying for the whole week, and she made me clean the house like it was nobody else's business TvT. Anyway, this chapter was mostly just fluff, I promise I'll get to the investigation parts soon. If you're reading this, thank you so much :)


	9. Chapter 9

Jason grunts as he lands on a concrete roof, gaining back momentum as he speeds onto the next building. The sky rumbled darkly above him with the promise of rain and inconvenience. He grumbles under his breath as he grapples around the corner, landing on the ledge of a smaller building. He looks at the map Tim gave him, turning on the sensors in his helmet to spot the highlighted trails of the pheromone signature they were looking for. 

Absentmindedly, his thoughts wander back to Tim as he scans the street, already regretting leaving him in the school by himself, especially when that Jake asshole was around. He’d sworn to himself that he’d give the fucker a piece of his mind the next time he saw him for that stunt he pulled with Tim in the hallway, but Tim had managed to curb his aggression, and had given him time to think about it. Now that he did, Tim wouldn’t exactly be happy if he beat someone up because of him and then possibly compromise the mission by calling in more unwanted attention, which was the last thing they needed.

 _Besides, Tim can handle himself_ , he reminded. Even better than Jason could handle his own. Hell, Tim could handle _Jason_ better than Jason could. 

_So why did his brain keep fussing over him?_

His helmet picks up a signature in his peripheral, and he swings off the building to land next to the entrance of an alleyway, where the signature trails across the ground. The pheromones are faint, but the signature is still there, and the first thing he notices is the width. _About as wide as a person._ The trail began abruptly, possibly at the sidewalk. A car, then. Then what? Did they drag her over here? Why not just carry her?

 _Because it would be impossible_ , his mind supplies, _if she put up a fight_. He glances up, looking to where the trail leads. It runs along the corner of the building, out into the street. It must have happened at night. _Did nobody hear her scream? Was she gagged?_ He follows it, the trail getting messier and wider in some areas, indicating where the victim thrashed and struggled. He frowned, wondering again what kind of monster would put someone through this. _Why not knock her out?_ he pondered. _Did they need her awake for… something?_ He wrinkled his nose. He wasn’t sure he wanted to find out what the culprit did to the omegas they captured, but if he did, well…

He stops as he looks at where the trails ends on a doorstep, looking up, to find, of all places- a food catering service. He looks at the unassuming sign hanging next to the door as it blows in the wind, announcing itself as “Roadwod’s Resto”. _Weird name_ , he thought. He looks at the sign on the door. “NO caps/shades”. He frowns, suspicions growing by the minute as he ponders why a food-centered business would need that kind of security measure. He sighs in irritation as he looks around for a place to change, figuring if glasses and hats weren’t allowed, then they probably wouldn’t look past a helmet and body armor.

The door chimes ring as he enters a few minutes later, having deposited his mask and armor in a clean corner in the alleyway next to the shop. The area was pretty small, not much more than a counter and a waiting area if you didn’t count the room hidden out of view behind a door labeled “Kitchen”. Somehow he felt it wasn’t as accurate as it should have been. The bell on the countertop seemed pointless, an employee immediately looking up at him as he walked in, shuffling in his chair as he turned his attention to Jason. 

“Can I help you?” the man asks, clasping his hands together on the barren surface. Jason leans against it, not giving anything away as he looks over the counter, spotting a record book of some sort. “Depends,” he shrugs nonchalantly. “Can I see your menu?” he asks, and the man wrinkles his nose unpleasantly. “Sure,” he offers, reaching next to the record book and bringing out the barest-looking menu he’s ever seen. There are only three items on it - Punch, Braised Chicken, and the house special. _So much for putting up a front._

“What’s the house special?” he looks back at the man over the menu, and he doesn’t even bother to look back at him as he sniffs and shrugs, telling him “Oh, I’m afraid it’s not available at the moment,” in an annoyingly practiced fashion as he picks at his nails. He can see how the place puts off naive customers who actually came for food catering, if the unappealing front hadn’t already. But Jason is persistent, if not peeved.

“I’d like to take an order of your chicken, please,” he says casually as he slides the menu back over the counter. The man grumbles under his breath, taking it back and finally reaching for what Jason had been waiting for the entire time - the record book.

The man opens it to the newest page, handing him a pen to fill in the information - the order size, delivery instructions, date, address…

He stops as he notices the page filled in next to his. Where there is supposed to be a signature, the stamp of a gold and green emblem appears on the paper, looking oddly familiar. He looks up to check on the employee, but he seems disinterested in Jason, scowling as he looks out the window. He turns back to the record book, looking at the name of the client. Ras Shaytan. Arabic, and inconspicuous enough to the eyes of anyone else - but he knows better. _Ras Shaytan. The Demon’s Head._ Gold and green and oddly familiar. Ra’s really should have been more subtle, but he supposed his Al Ghul pride could never really let him hide behind anything less elegant than his own title.

He looks over the other details. Sure enough, when he looks under the “Type” column, he’s ordered the house special. And under payment… instead of numbers, one word appears. _Taqnia. Technology._ Just great. Sex trafficking and now weapons. _And_ he’s already paid in full. Really great.

He snaps the book shut, startling the employee and making him jump out of his seat. He glowers at Jason, evidently embarrassed. He clears his throat. “You know what… actually, just cancel my order. I think I forgot my wallet in the car,” he says, giving his best attempt at an apologetic smile and enjoying the way the words get under the man’s skin as he glares even harder at Jason. He gives him his brightest smile and a jolly little wave as he steps out the door, chimes ringing in his wake.

When he steps out, the sky has considerably darkened and the wind has picked up, leaves brushing past his face as they’re caught in the strong breeze. He picks up his phone to quickly shoot Tim a text, telling him there was an umbrella in the car and how he should probably stick to investigating inside the school, before retrieving his stuff from the alleyway and shooting off into the cold afternoon air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi :) not much fluff in this chapter, sadly :( but definitely more to come heheheh.
> 
> please tell me how I'm doing with the investigation part of this fic, bc sometimes I have the sneaking suspicion that I'm botching it lol. I do enjoy adding the little details though, so hopefully ya'll are good with it! Thanks again for reading!


	10. Chapter 10

Tim looks at the text Jason sent him, only then looking up and noticing the darkness of the sky from his perch on the grass near the school shed. He makes a mental note to get the umbrella later, before turning back to what he’d been doing.

He looks back at the trail, recalling what Jason had told him about it - he was right, the trail did cut off abruptly where the path met the grass. Jason told him it was possible that it picked up somewhere else, and experience had taught him to trust Jason’s gut. He stands up and looks around, turning to find other places where the trail possibly led.

“Now, if I were a deranged omega kidnapper…” he mutters under his breath, scanning around. His gaze catches on the roof of a particular structure, with an entrance relatively close to the shed and provided enough foliage to cover a person. Or two. “Bingo,” he murmurs, turning to walk in the direction of the greenhouse. Just then, the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, and he’s felt the feeling enough times to recognize what it means by now.

He turns around, looking for anything or anyone that might be hiding behind the shed or the bushes. The shrubs to his right shake, and he takes a step back before a figure jumps out and-

It’s a cat. Just a cat. Tim breathes a sigh of relief as it meows mockingly at him. He turns back to move, still unable to shake the feeling, but he chalks it up to the remaining adrenaline.

When he reaches the entrance of the greenhouse, he uses his watch to scan the surrounding area on the ground, trying to be as subtle as possible, and it blinks at him in positive - telling him where the pheromone signature picked up. “Gotcha,” he smiles as he follows the lead around the boxes of plants and aquaponics equipment, leading him deeper and deeper into the structure.

He stops where the path tapers off in one of the corners of the greenhouse. He looks around, instinct still pricking at the back of his neck, but nobody’s there. To anyone else, he looks just like a student in the greenhouse. He bends down to inspect the trail, and brushes aside some leaves to reveal… something. 

It’s a relatively small cylinder, around the size of his palm. He picks it up and turns it over in his hand, inspecting it. It seemed to be a piece of advance tech, packing a lot of mobilizing structures but compact and efficient, and… strangely familiar. It evidently had some electronic properties, so he turns back to his watch to see if he can access its ramifications-

Suddenly, the thing jumps out of his grasp, hovering in the air with an unfurled copter, and Tim has enough time to think “drone” before jumping back and assuming a defensive stance. But the machine doesn’t seem to mind him, instead hovering near the ground as it unfurls more appendages, these ones claw-like in structure and currently bending to the ground and reaching for… something. He squints at it, before realizing what it had in its grasp - it was a strand of his hair, which must have fallen to the ground when he jumped back.

He acts quickly, the drone flying up towards one of the holes in the glass ceiling, and it doesn’t escape before Tim can throw one of his own pieces on it - a nanobot, magnetic and designed for tracking and easy maneuvering so it can stay hidden. It crawls into the space where the legs had appeared, before the furl back in on themselves, taking his hair with them.

His brow furrows as he taps furiously on his watch, thoughts running a million miles a minute as he tries to puzzle things out-

A sudden _Clang_ bursts him out of his thoughts and he turns to check the source of the sound, coming from the front of the greenhouse. The uneasy feeling peaks as he runs towards it, and his worst suspicions are confirmed as he looks at the latch on the door - it’s locked. Someone was just here, and either they were playing a very bad prank or they wanted to keep him here for reasons he probably wouldn’t like.

The lock isn’t digital either - just a simple sliding mechanism, so he can’t hack into it like he would have liked. He curses under his breath, looking around for any other possible ways out, but the rest of the walls are glass and metal and destroying school property definitely isn’t an ideal scenario in this investigation. Besides, whoever wanted to keep him here was probably underestimating him, and a little meeting with them wouldn’t hurt. Probably.

Just then it starts to rain, and Tim curses the powers that be for landing him in this situation. He’d left his jacket in the car, and the glass pieces on the ceiling were only enough to cover the plant boxes on the ground and hanging in the air. Just his luck. He snuggles up against one of the boxes, keeping as close to it as he could to get away from the rain, trying to keep as dry he could possibly be, which is not at all. He shivers as he rubs his arms, glaring up at the sky. He wonders how long he has to wait before whoever locked him in here comes in for a little rendezvous. He’d just wanted to talk before, but now he figures a few well-placed punches in choice areas wouldn’t kill them.

It’s thirty minutes later in the unrelenting downpour that Tim finally decides he can’t wait, and he’d rather give the culprit a thorough beating later than catch pneumonia now. He pulls out his phone to shoot Jason a text message, when another _clang_ hits his ears. He jumps up, ready to give a nice ass-beating to whoever-

“Tim?” a voice asks under a blue umbrella, and as the door opens he realizes he recognizes the owner, even through the patter of the rain. “Jason,” he sighs in relief, a little disappointed but mostly glad. Jason grabs him immediately and pulls him under the cover of the umbrella, looking him over. “Jesus, Tim, what were you doing?” he asks him, almost indignant. “Investigating,” Tim replies, before letting out a small sneeze. Jason shakes his head, taking off his own jacket and bundling it around Tim. Immediately the smell of Jason surrounding him erupts a warmth in his stomach, and he feels safe and comforted. 

“I’m really okay,” he says, blushing, even as he nuzzles further into the jacket and Jason chuckles. “Sure you are,” he wraps an arm around Tim’s shoulders, pulling him close as he walks him out of the greenhouse and towards the gate, in the direction of the car as Tim tells him what happened.

*~*~*

“You’re a reckless dumbass,” Jason sighed, leaning on the steering wheel as he kept his gaze on the jacket-clad omega. He knew something was wrong when Tim hadn’t replied to his text and he wasn’t in the school or the car, and the umbrella was still there. How was it that Tim could handle fighting supervillains, unraveling mind-numbing mysteries, Jason and their crazy family, and literally everything else other than himself? They were both those kinds of dumbasses, it seemed. After hearing all about it, Jason was glad he found him when he did, feeling loads better now that Tim was wrapped in his jacket and safe in the car. 

His brow furrows as he turns up the heat. “It doesn’t look like they’re onto us yet. Guess that means they’re on our trail now though, huh?” he huffs.

Tim nods before he lets out a kittenish sneeze, short and high-pitched and utterly adorable. It kicked Jason’s instincts into overdrive. His hand was moving before he knew it, reaching out to cup the omega’s face, stroking his cheek with his thumb. Tim leaned into it, eyes closing as he purred into Jason’s palm. Jason gulped. _Shit._ How was he supposed to hold back with him when he was being so cute? He could feel the soft exhale through his parted lips as he leaned in closer, studying the details of his face. The long lashes, the soft cheeks and smooth skin, cold from the rain. He swallowed down again.

How far would he let him go?

“Tim,” he whispered, softer than he thought it would sound. He watched as blue eyes fluttered open, gaze soft and lips looking even softer. He dropped his gaze towards them, his own parting as he leaned in, closing his eyes-

A knock on the car window interrupted them, incessant and pestering. Jason almost growled before he caught himself, utterly peeved that someone had dared to disrupt him from playing out his fantasy of the last few days.

He opened his eyes to see Tim doing the same, a light blush dusting his pale skin as he looked away, not meeting the other’s eyes. Jason turned to the window to face the perpetrator, baring his teeth before he was met with an inappropriately cheery grin, belonging to the man with the brightest teeth Jason had ever laid eyes on.

“Dick,” he huffed, rolling down the window. “Hey, guys! How’s it going?” the perpetrator said in his annoyingly jolly tone, clearly oblivious. 

“Great, until you showed up,” Jason grumbled under his breath, unlocking the car doors. Dick and his never-ending-yammering climbed into the back seat. “What? Speak up, I can’t hear you. Anyway, as I was saying, Bruce told me to check up on the, uh, assignment he gave - and you, of course. So, how’s it going?” he repeated the question, the crinkling of his hands rummaging through plastic not really leaving much room for an answer. When he had finally settled down, pulling out three burgers from the bag in his hands, Jason replied.

“We’ve gone forward. Whole thing’s bigger than we thought,” he told them when all the car windows were shut tight again, and accepted the burger being shoved into his shoulder.

Tim turns to him, fully recovering from his earlier flush. “What do you mean?” he asks, and Jason realizes that although Tim had filled him in on the details of his investigation, Jason hadn’t told him the details of his own.

“It’s a sex trafficking ring,” he says, with no preparation or prelude or anything. Tim simply slumps down in his seat, frowning. Jason has the sneaking suspicion that he’s already mentally prepared himself for this outcome. Dick, on the other hand, stops from chomping down on his own burger as he stares in astonishment at Jason.

“What do you mean? What did you find, little wing?” he asks, swallowing down his bite. “This isn’t just an isolated string of cases?” he leans in further to hear his answer. Jason shakes his head before filling them in, telling them about the pheromone trail he’d inspected at Haylard street, and the business masquerading itself as a catering service.

“Are you sure?” Tim starts, implicitly asking for more details. “Yep. Pretty sure. Otherwise, I think our resident assassin CEO would have a taste for bland punch and braised chicken,” he tells them, and watches as their eyes widen in surprise. “Ra’s?” Dick asks, hanging onto every word. “You found him in the record book?” Tim follows, and Jason nods. “His emblem was in there, under the name Ras Shaytan,” he informs them. “Demon’s head,” Tim snorts. “Not exactly subtle. Or humble,” he wrinkles his nose. Dick rubs his chin in thought.

“Bruce sent me the latest on the league,” he begins, eyes looking at something he wasn’t really seeing. “Apparently, he’s been looking for a new heir,” he says, and all their eyes click as the pieces fall into place. Dick turns to look at them. “It isn’t our usual sex trafficking ring, isn’t it?” he deduces, and Tim and Jason shake their heads.

“The omegas they’ve been gathering aren’t the usual, either,” Tim tells him, and Jason wonders if he’ll tell Dick too. Come to think of it, they needed to have a talk about that. Dick’s eyebrows furrow together. “What do you mean?” he asks Tim, and Tim tells him the details of the omegas, skirting around the subject of how he was one of them. Jason gives him a thoughtful look, but Tim turns away from him, avoiding his gaze. Jason gives his arm a light touch. Tim turns back to look at him, and Jason mouths “It’s okay,” before giving him a small smile. He wasn’t sure it had the desired effect though, because Tim looks like he wants to cry.

Dick looks pointedly at the both of them, before stretching and yawning obnoxiously. “Oooh-kay,” he starts, grabbing his plastic bag and looking at his watch. “Wow, would you look at the time,” he says exaggeratedly, and Jason wants to roll his eyes. Tim blushes as he squirms in the front seat. “Dick, it’s not-” he begins, but Dick cuts him off with a wave as he starts to get out of the car. “ ‘S alright, ‘s alright,” he laughs. “Take good care of J’s jacket, Tim. That one’s his favorite,” he grins, and Jason throws his burger wrapper at him before he closes the door, laughing.

Tim turns to him, eyes wide. “Oh- I’m sorry, I didn’t-” he squeaks, but Jason waves him off. “Nah, it’s okay. I needed to wash it anyway,” he laughs nervously. Tim slumps back in his seat, fingers absentmindedly rubbing the fabric. “I’m sorry I got your favorite jacket all wet,” he whispers, almost inaudible, and Jason’s mind wanders back to the kiss they almost shared. He shakes his head and clears his throat, starting the engine. “It’s okay, really. It looks good on you,” he adds, not knowing why, but it slips out before he can stop it. He means it, though. Tim turns to the window, a small smile on his lips and a blush on his cheeks.

“Thank you, Jason.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :0 wow, two chapters in two consecutive days?? How is this possible??? Hahah, jk. I'll still try my best to update when I can, but with school coming up we can only pray lol. Thank you for your patience with me! ^_^ you guys make me so happy :)
> 
> Also, yes, the rain thing was mostly for that jacket scene (and to set ambiance for the investigation, but still mostly that jacket scene). So sue me xD


	11. Chapter 11

Jason watched as Tim paced back and forth in front of him, his oversized Star Wars shirt framing his small form and making him look like a younger child than he really was. And although Jason thought this was a particularly adorable side of him, his pacing reminiscent of the serious vigilante underneath yet woefully juxtaposed by the pair of dorky pyjamas, he really should’ve known this was going to happen - one shower, three cups of coffee and seven hours of work later, and Tim was still deeply entrenched in his own thoughts, puzzling out the details of the case. 

He sighed as he set down a steaming mug on the younger’s desk. Granted, there had been an overload of information from their latest investigations, and the thing Tim was working on right now…

Jason stared at the blinking dot on the screen, where it had been on display for the past hour or so. It was a map showing the path of the drone Tim had bugged, the blinking dot hovering over a familiar spot that Jason recognized - in fact, he’d been there earlier that day. Neither of them had been surprised by it - it made sense that the drone would arrive at the catering service, and they were definitely on Tim’s trail now. However, the omega in question still seemed to be working something out about it.

“Penny for your thoughts?” he turned to the omega, who took a moment to look back up at him. “Hm?” he said, a little slow, and as he faced him the alpha couldn’t help but notice the little hairs on his head sticking this way and that from where he’d carded his fingers through them earlier, and the way his shirt hung a little off-shoulder, exposing the small expanse of soft skin that accentuated his left collar bone.

Jason cleared his throat before turning to the screen. “What are you looking at?” he asked, gesturing toward the monitor. Tim’s eyes lit up as he seemed to understand, turning to the computer as well. “Oh! Right. Well, um.” he started, organizing the papers and equipment on the desk, before noticing the mug Jason had brought him. He pauses as he picks it up gently, before giving Jason one of his wide, grateful smiles, and Jason swears he can feel himself melting deep inside from the warmth that surges up his chest.

He hurriedly turns back to the monitor as Tim does the same, taking a sip of the tea before replying to Jason. “You were right to suspect the catering service from the get-go. The information from both our investigations align - the drone I tracked, it’s league tech,” he tells him, and Jason honestly shouldn’t be surprised, but the fact that Ra’s was involved in the transactions of a sex-trafficking ring still sounded strange to him.

“As for the path of the drone itself, I tracked it to the… _approximate_ coordinates of the resto,” he says next. Jason’s eyebrows furrow together at the small pause. “Approximate?” he asks, and Tim nods solemnly. “Exact latitude and longitude as the shop. But the altitude…” he trails off as he looks down, and it’s only then that Jason notices the notes and calculations he’s made on the desk. “The receiver says I lost it below-ground level,” he finishes, looking back at Jason.

The alpha’s eyes widen before turning back to the screen, squinting. “How far below…?” he asks. “Far,” Tim told him. “Around 10 meters,” he concludes, and their eyes meet, knowing instinctively what the other was thinking. 

10 meters below ground. That was a distance that spoke of only one thing - _underground base_.

They should know - they had one at home, in the manor, where Gotham’s own resident vigilante kept his base of operations.

“How’d you lose the signal? A transmitter?” Jason kept at it, looking for more confirmation. Tim shook his head. “The receiver wasn’t able to detect feedback. They’re using a jammer. A stationary one,” he said, watching as the familiar swirl of understanding settled in Jason’s eyes. A stationary jammer was only used for one thing and one thing only - if you had a huge area of space to do questionably legal things, and you didn’t want anyone finding out. _This was it_. They’d hit the jackpot.

“Nice. Great job, Timmers,” he grinned at the younger boy, who returned it to him. But Jason’s expression slowly morphed into a small frown. “But now what…?” he asked, slumping back in his seat. 

Tim turned back to the computer screen, once again rubbing his chin in thought. How they chose to proceed from here would be extremely crucial to the whole operation. The take-down had to be swift, effective, and efficient. Their opportunities would be limited depending on the enemy’s awareness of their own actions, so they had to strike where it counted - somewhere where they could hit hard enough to cripple the ring permanently.

What did they have to go on? _The site of operations was big, that was for sure_. Stationary jammers were usually for areas 100 square meters in size. Now the question was - _what did they keep in there?_ He’d been pondering it over the last hour, so by now he had some ideas - none of them conclusive. But one of them kept coming back to bite at the growing bud of hope in the back of his mind - the hope that the victims could still be alive, and that they were all within reach. But then that meant…

“We’ll have to proceed carefully. We don’t know if there are people down there who could be used as hostages,” he told Jason. He looked at the dot blinking at him from the screen. _Roadwod’s Resto…_ he couldn’t place it, but something about the name was strange. He felt as though he’d encountered it before, but it had been different - as though it had presented itself as something else.

Besides that, there was the matter of the drone. He thought back to the details of its design, now knowing what it was and why it had been so familiar - it was a piece of league tech. He’d had his share of experiences with them before, and even had a look up close when he’d blown up some of their servers that one time he had been forced to work with them. The familiar design interface was the same one on the drone - there was no doubt about it.

Which meant Ra’s was indeed working, or had worked, with them. Which meant Tim had a new set of unanswered questions - _What was Ra’s expecting in return? What exactly was the ‘house special’?_

Which brought him back to his original set of unanswered questions: 

_What made these omegas so different from the others that even the League of Assassins was involved?_

“Do you think the house special could be the omegas themselves?” Jason asked behind him, as if reading his thoughts. Tim’s brows furrowed as he considered the idea. “It’s definitely possible,” he replied. But he had the sneaking suspicion that there was… something else.

Non-responsive omegas were limited in number, so if they sold them periodically, then there wouldn’t be a need for such a huge space - unless there was _something else_ they kept down there. There had been a total of 17 victims on their case file, and right now they had no conclusive information, so they needed to do more investigative work. 

So which question could they answer first? Right now they had a sex trafficking ring parading around as a resto, several omegas which were not of your garden variety, a possible link to the League of Assassins, a drone which took-

And then it hit him. “Jason,” he called out to the alpha, who turned in his direction. “I need a strand of Eva’s hair.”

Jason’s eyes widened as he put the pieces together himself. “You reckon that has the DNA you’re looking for?” he asks, and Tim nods excitedly. “Her locker’s in the school basement, under investigation. If we go now-” 

“Tim,” Jason interrupts him.

“Jason, the signature-”

“It’s one in the morning.”

“But I can-”

“You just spent the afternoon in the rain.”

“Yes, but-”

“No.” Jason says with finality, shaking his head. “You need some rest, babybird. You’ve done lots today - a little sleep wouldn’t hurt,” he pauses as he looks at him with an emotion Tim can’t place, eyebrows furrowed but eyes solemn. He looks exasperated, maybe even a little amused, but mostly… he seems… fond.

Tim looks away, a blush blooming on his face that he tries to cover up with a small pout. He can see Jason approaching out of the corner of his eye, feeling his warmth envelop him before he feels the soft touch of fingers on his chin, lightly tugging to make him face upwards at a smiling Jason who almost looks apologetic.

Of course, Tim should’ve known better. “Aww. Does my boyfriend need me to tuck him in?” the alpha coos, and Tim glares at him as he stomps on his foot. Hard. He relishes the yelp of pain, grinning smugly as he turns around, before a pair of strong arms encircle his waist and lift him off the ground. He yelps and flails as Jason laughs, pressing him even tighter against his chest. “You know what, just for that, maybe I _will_ tuck you in. Just to make sure you don’t escape or something,” he says, a tone of mischief in his voice, and Tim can almost see him smirking.

They make their way to Tim’s room clumsily, the omega struggling viciously and nearly knocking over several assortments of books and potted plants, almost completely remodeling an entire bookshelf before they finally arrive at the room. Jason lands them on the bed with a _thump_ , both of them lying sideways with his arms still around Tim’s waist and his chest still pressed to Tim’s back. Tim struggles even harder, if only so that he doesn’t have to comprehend the way he can feel Jason’s heart beating against him, thumping fast from the little work-out he just gave him. _Serves him right_ , Tim thinks, finally giving up on the arms around him and resting against the alpha with a defeated huff.

Jason chuckles, and Tim resists the urge to nuzzle further into the vibrations emanating from the chest behind him. “See, that wasn’t so bad,” he exhales against Tim’s ear, out of breath, and Tim has to fight to not lean back, to experience more of that warmth that sparked something under his skin.

Thankfully he doesn’t have to, because it’s Jason who leans in, flipping him around with a surprised squeak, and suddenly they’re face-to-face, and there’s no hiding the blush blooming on his cheeks as he gulps down. “Jason,” he whispers, and the man just smiles, lifting his head to sigh into Tim’s hair. “Go to sleep, babybird.” he says softly, knuckles rubbing soothing patterns on Tim’s back. Tim grumps in the crook of Jason’s neck, sighing before unintentionally inhaling some of his scent. _Happy_ , his brain spells out for him. Immediately drowsiness starts to settle on his eyelids, his hands beginning to clutch lightly at the fabric of Jason’s shirt.

“How… are you doing that,” he says more than asks, fighting to keep his eyes open. Jason just hums in reply, and the vibrations comfort Tim, lulling him to sleep even more. “You… you’re putting something in my tea… aren’t you…” he accuses, and Jason wants to laugh in reply. “Only the best tender loving care for my boyfriend,” he says instead, bending down to check on the omega, only to find him fast asleep, his hand dropping from where it had been clinging to Jason’s shirt. Jason smiles fondly, leaning down to press a kiss to his forehead and arranging the sheets around him.

“Sweet dreams, babybird.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello! How are you all? Sorry it's been a week since the last update, stuff came up and I had to prep for online classes (can't wait TvT) Anyway, I really enjoy writing this, but I feel like I'll need to warm up my writing before I get things going along smoothly again lol. Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter heheheh strap in bc this ride's not over yet (*0*)


	12. Chapter 12

“Hnh…” Tim roused himself from sleep, still not opening his eyes, nuzzling further into the covers and reveling in the feeling of the solid warmth at his back. He couldn’t believe he’d let Jason rope him into sleeping early - _again_. Well, not exactly early. It _had_ been one in the morning, and Jason was right, Tim needed the sleep, especially since they had done a lot that day, and because he’d spent a considerable amount of time in the rain. _And Jason’s a damn good cuddler_ , his mind supplied. Tim curled in on himself as he tried a feeble attempt at pushing away the thought. Still, how could he let this happen a second time? 

_Darn, I guess_ , Tim grinned to himself, realizing he wasn’t at all disappointed. He turned around to grasp at the firm figure behind his back, before realizing-

Pillows. They were just pillows. He shot up from his bed immediately, eyes searching the room and landing on the open door, before he realized what he was doing. _Calm down_ , he told himself. _It’s not like you’re together or anything - of course he’d prefer his own room_. He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. _Why did he even think-_

Suddenly two arms grasp him from behind his back, the soft press of lips to his nape unmistakable. Two beats later and the lips part from his skin with a warm exhale, stirring the soft hairs at the back of his neck. “Good morning, babybird,” a voice says, and Tim blushes, turning around slowly to stare at the alpha. “Jason,” he whispers. “Did you spend the ni-” he cuts himself off before he can finish, shaking his head as he turns back. “Hmm?” Jason asks, but Tim just shakes his head. “Nevermind,” he says dismissively. “What were you doing?”

“Well, seeing as I actually remembered to set an alarm this time, I figured I’d make us breakfast,” he replied, giving Tim a curious look. “Something wrong, babybird?” he asks him gently, and Tim shakes his head before giving him his most reassuring smile. “No, nothing. Um… what did you make?” he asks, trying to change the subject, even as he feels his insides sink. _What was the matter with him?_

Jason raises his eyebrows at him, before replying. “Just some eggs and bacon,” He tells him. “It was pretty quick - I also made some coffee. We have around 25 minutes left to get to the uni,” he says. Tim nods, not meeting his gaze. “Thanks. I’ll go shower then,” he tells him, turning away from the older man and heading in the direction of their bathroom, feeling guilty at the puzzled gaze wandering after him.

*~*~*~*

Tim silently thanked fate for not screwing things up for him this time - it was currently Wednesday, and blissfully absent of any computer engineering periods, which meant he didn’t have to deal with Jake and his annoying posse. _And besides, he wasn’t in the mood to listen to a lecture after the morning he’d had_. He was a little disappointed that he wouldn’t be seeing Jacki, but he had other tasks to focus on - he was in his mandatory math period, calculus, whose concepts he’d already had down pat, so it was just perfect for what he was about to do.

The teacher had left a video playing on the projector before he left the room, attending to some other business, which only made it all the more convenient for Tim as he opened his laptop on his lap, connecting to the school wifi. His forehead creased in attention as he focused on the task at hand, accessing the school servers with a bit of tinkering… and… _there_.

He stared at the plethora of school records before him, running a quick algorithm to sort them out by pheromone type - and then classifying all the Alphas with type C pheromones into one folder, before downloading it onto the case file.

“Bingo,” he murmured to himself as the download finished. He opened the folder for a quick scan of the names, before his eyes landed on one in particular.

Jake Woodard. Son of Henry Woodard and Mary Bludhaven. 

Pheromone Type: C

The lights flickered on as the teacher arrived, the bell ringing in his wake. Tim shut the laptop closed, gathering his things and blending in with the rest of the students, shuffling out of the classroom and saying his goodbye to the professor.

He makes his way down the hall, a buzz in his pocket alerting him to a text from his phone. It’s from Jason - he wants to meet in the benches outside the cafeteria.

He knows Jason has two free periods after this, and he had three. They had other classes for the rest of the day, so it was probably the only window of time they had to see each other…

So why was Tim so reluctant? It wasn’t like they were going to talk about anything else besides the case, right?

He sighed as he continued down the hall, walking towards the stairs at the end. He supposed he was going to go through with this - but he didn’t have to rush, did he? He could take his time-

Suddenly he had the distinct feeling he was being followed. And not very skillfully, either. As his eyes flicked back for a fraction of a second, he caught sight of a mop of red hair on a familiar face, and he sorted through his memories trying to recall where he had seen it before… until it hit him. The profile picture of the account which had publicly denounced him and Jason on social media. _Jared Stafford_ , if he recalled correctly. 

_One of Jake’s bosom buddies. Great_. And just when he thought he’d gotten rid of them for the day. 

He chanced another look back, and was unsurprised to find him still cowering behind the lockers, staring dead straight at Tim, before realizing he was looking back at him and then fumbling for his phone as though he hadn’t been caught yet. Tim sighed, deciding to ignore him. He didn’t seem like he would be a threat. _What was the worst that could happen?_

He arrived at the courtyard beside the cafeteria, his eyes immediately gravitating towards the lone figure in one of the edge benches, facing to the side of the building, his back to Tim. He seemed almost jittery, tapping his fingers on the metal table beneath him, choosing to lean against it instead of sitting down on one of its benches. He watched as he fished his phone out of his pocket, brows furrowing in that familiar brooding expression he knew so well, before putting it back and resuming his nervous tapping.

Despite everything, Tim found himself smiling in endearment as he made his way over. “Hey,” he said softly, giving him a light touch on his shoulder. The alpha turned to him, looking surprised, before seeming almost… _relieved_. “Tim,” he sighed, smiling. Tim smiled back before he could stop himself.

“What’s up?” he began. Jason opened his mouth as if to say something, before closing it again. Then he swallowed. “Tim,” he simply said again, reaching out a hand like he wanted to touch him, before he paused and retracted it, looking away. “About the hair… Uh, I have classes for the rest of the day, so…” he rubbed the back of his head as he said it, looking in the distance. “I-I mean- you already know that, of course. Of course you do,” he stuttered, looking like he wanted to bury his face in something.

“I wasn’t making excuses or anything, it was just- I was thinking-” he continued again, and Tim chuckled at him. This made Jason pause, and Tim stopped immediately as he realized what he had just done. He looked up at him, wide-eyed, before speaking.

“Jason-”  
“Tim-”

They both spoke at the same time, pausing at the exact moment. Jason cleared his throat and gestured for him to go first. Tim nodded, blushing at the awkwardness, before resuming. “I- about the hair, it’s totally okay. I wasn’t sure we could get it today, anyway, so I was thinking of doing it tomorrow. Or something,” he added hastily. Maybe Jason had other plans?

“Oh… oh. Okay,” Jason replied, nodding slowly. “S-so… then, um… This…” he sighed. “Listen, Tim. Yesterday, when I was…” he swallowed before he continued, looking back at him. “Was I overstepping my boundaries?” he whispered, and if not for the close distance between them, Tim wouldn’t have heard it. He looked at him, wide-eyed, putting the pieces together in his mind as the other man stood in front of him, the nervousness in his eyes and the anticipation in his stance now apparently not figments of his imagination. He almost chuckled again, right then and there, as Jason fumbled in front of him, waiting for his answer. He might actually be a little adorable.

He pressed his hand to his mouth as he gave a light laugh, shaking his head. “No… no, Jason. That’s not it at all,” he said, before smiling up at him fondly. All of this had been Tim’s fault. He felt a little guilty that it was weighing on Jason like this, but he had to admit… It was kind of cute. 

“It wasn’t your fault at all,” he smiled as the alpha sighed in relief, the tension seeping from his shoulders. Tim grinned. _Although the blame wasn’t his to take, it wouldn’t hurt to tease him a bit, would it?_

“But you did do something that hurt me a little bit,” he said, nodding solemnly, closing his eyes in his best impression of being lost in thought as he rubbed his chin. He quirked open one eye to see the alpha tense up again, and he smirked to himself as he repressed the urge to giggle. “Really? What? Tell me, Tim,” he said, a worried expression on his face that made Tim want to hug him and give him a few pats on the head.

Tim sighed heavily. Maybe a little more exaggerated than how he’d normally do it, but Jason didn’t seem to catch on just yet. He shook his head again, eyes looking sorrowful. “But if I tell you, you shouldn’t be too hard on yourself, okay?” he asked the alpha, and didn’t miss the way his throat worked as he swallowed down. Jason nodded, anxiety plain on his face.

Tim exhaled a breath before moving closer, nudging the larger boy’s feet further apart so he could get in the space between his knees, much to Jason’s surprise. He grinned at him before leaning on to his chest, resting his palms on the firm broadness before snaking them around his neck and putting their weight on the table beneath them. He leaned in far enough to whisper in his ear, “What kind of boyfriend leaves their boo all alone at night?”

Jason pulled back, an incredulous expression on his face as his strong hands gently gripped his waist so that they could face each other again. “That’s what this is about?” he asked him after a few beats, and Tim simply gave him what he thought was his best apologetic smile as he shrugged, feeling a little goofy. Jason groaned as he buried his face in Tim’s shoulder, lightly shaking his head in what Tim highly suspected was amusement. “Oh, Tim,” he sighed, sounding partly relieved, his arms gathering to wrap around Tim’s waist and drape over his hips, pulling him closer. He lifted his head, and Tim saw the smile in his eyes as he did, his lips pressing a kiss to Tim’s forehead. “Oh, babybird,” he murmured as he pulled away, finally looking back at him, their eyes meeting once again.

“I thought I would be asking for too much if I slept with you. On your bed, to say the least,” he sighed. Tim chuckled lightly as his arms continued to caress Jason’s neck, pressing their foreheads together as he stroked the soft hair at the back of the alpha’s head. “Then I guess we’re both idiots,” he murmured against his lips, looking into the eyes of the man before him. They were more green than they were blue, speckled here and there with deep sea-colored flecks. “Tim,” he whispered against his lips. “There’s no one else I’d rather wake up with,” Jason murmured, and Tim closed his eyes as they pressed together-

“Oh, there you are!” a familiar voice said, and they hurriedly pulled apart, faces flushed. Jacki stopped dead in her tracks, looking partly startled, but mostly guilty. “O-oh… I’m sorry, am I interrupting-?” she began, but Tim cleared his throat and waved her off. “No, no. It’s alright. Um, what is it?” he asked, trying to calm his face down before fully facing her. 

She laughed awkwardly before replying. “Oh, well, someone told me they were handing out freebies in the cafeteria, so I thought you should know. Free food is always good,” she told them sheepishly. Tim nodded. “Thanks, Jacki. We’ll be right there,” he told her, and she smiled back at them. “I was going to get something from my locker, so I’ll try to catch up. Save some for me when I get there!” she told them, waving as she headed in the opposite direction of the cafeteria.

Jason waved with Tim as they watched Jacki leave, before turning back to each other. “So, do you wanna…?” Tim asked him, gesturing towards the building beside them. Jason almost nodded his reply, before suddenly feeling the distinct spike of sensation in his gut, and he looked around to see the cause.

Sure enough, in the second story of the building, there were two people standing in the window, watching him and Tim. A pair of icy blue eyes, and a mop of red hair. _Jake Woodard and Jared Stafford_. Creepy bastards. He glared back at them before grabbing Tim’s arm, stopping him abruptly.

“Jason, what-” he began before Jason pulled him back in the space between his thighs, sitting back on the table. Tim looked up at him curiously, before attempting to follow his gaze, but Jason stopped him, hand coming up to cup the back of his head and make him face towards the alpha. Jason grinned down at him. “You owe me, little bird. Don’t you think you should make up for worrying me over nothing?” he smiled, eyes glinting playfully. Tim cocked his head to the side, eyebrows furrowing together in confusion. 

“What-” he was cut off with a gasp as Jason pressed a kiss to his neck, right above his scent gland. The larger boy grinned at the sudden jerk of the omega’s body, the hitch in his breath goading him on. He could feel the smaller hands squirming on his shirt as he continued, pressing more kisses and sucks on the boy’s sensitive skin, marking his shoulder and collarbone as he trembled beneath him.

He looked up, wondering if they were enjoying the show. He smirked at the furious expression on Jake’s face, looking at him as he licked a long stripe across Tim’s scent glands. He was excited at the gasp it elicited from Tim, the omega now clutching tightly at his shirt, and Jason knew he was enjoying this more than he should. He figured he’d gotten his point across, but a little bit more couldn’t hurt, could it?

Just then Tim begins to push him away, his hands tapping urgently at his chest, and Jason looks to where Tim is staring, seeing a familiar blonde heading back in their direction. He lets him go just as Jacki arrives. “Hey! You guys are still here? Come on, they’ll run out soon,” she told them, grabbing them by the arms and pulling them in the direction of the cafeteria. Jason chances another look up, only to find the both of the alphas gone.

When they arrive at the food court, the line has dissipated and most people had already chosen seats, digging into their food. They make their way to the serving tables, looking over the meals. “Ooh, I wonder what-” Jacki stops as her gaze lands on one of the food items, looking like she’d seen a ghost. “Why is- That’s-” she says as she stares at it, and Tim follows her gaze to see what she’s looking at - it’s a box of braised chicken. He turns back to her. “Jacki?” he asks, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Are you alright?” he continues, but she seems to shake, her face going white. “They served this the day-” she cuts herself off, closing her eyes, seeming to calm down before she turns back to Tim. “I’m fine.” she gives him a tight smile. “Turns out I’m not that hungry, after all,” she tells him, turning around and leaving for the exit. 

Tim turns to Jason in a panic, both their eyes wide, before he chases after her. Unfortunately, a new wave of students arrive in the cafeteria, and he loses her in the throng. “Jacki! Wait!” he cries out, searching for her head of blonde hair, but he can’t find her. Once he gets past the crowd, he searches the cafeteria doors, looking around, but she seems to have disappeared.

He sighs, defeated, going back inside the building to find Jason waving him over at a booth. He frowns as he sits down. “I couldn’t find her,” he tells him, looking over at the two settings of chicken in front of them. Jason nods at him solemnly. “We’ll find her later. I’m sure she’ll turn up. For now, though, you should take a look at this chicken. Something’s… off about it,” he sniffs, wrinkling his nose. Tim quirks an eyebrow at him, trying to see what he meant. He picks one up and inspects it, turning it around in his hand.

“Taste it,” Jason recommends, his expression souring again at the mention of putting it in someone’s mouth. Tim does, and as he chews on it for a while, letting the taste settle on his tongue, he realizes it’s something… familiar. Like something he’d tasted before. Or _smelled_. He frowns as he realizes it isn’t pleasant, either.

“I don’t like it,” he agrees with Jason. Wherever he smelled it, it mustn’t have been one of his fondest memories. Jason’s expression darkens as he stares forward, his gaze not really focused on what he was seeing. “There was something in what Jacki said…” he trailed off, seemingly lost in thought. Tim looked back at the chicken. _What was there about it that had Jacki running out of the cafeteria?_

“Do you think it could have something to do with Eva?” Jason asked, turning back to Tim. His eyes flickered in thought as he considered it. “That would make sense,” he replied. “We’ll bring some back home for testing,” he fished a zip-lock out of his sling bag, dumping two of the drumsticks inside.

They might find something, or they wouldn’t, but one thing Tim knew for sure - whatever made Jacki react like that, it couldn’t have been good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Itsy bitsy Timmy totally overreacted xD (So did Jason tho. I'm sorry is this pointless conflict hahahah help me)
> 
> On another note, wonder what's in that chicken? Hmm? Guess we'll find out next chapter :DD


	13. Chapter 13

Tim stares for the nth time at the centrifuge, where he had placed the chicken sauce earlier to purify. It had been sitting there for a while, separating the heavier compounds from the rest in the test tubes they had placed in the machine - where maybe they would find something, or they wouldn’t. Jacki had been weird about it, which caught Tim’s attention right away. Her reaction had raised red flags in his mind, and he suspected it had something to do with Eva.

He turned back to the computer screen, which currently announced in the bottom-right that it was 11 PM. He sighed as he turned back to the display on screen, showing the records of the school that had been made that day. A quick key-word search and he had exactly what he was looking for… _there_. A note under the cafeteria memo. His eyes flickered as he read the familiar name under the caterer label - Roadwod’s Resto. He wasn’t surprised.

The fact that they had acted this quickly told Tim two things - the DNA he was looking for, which contained the signature of a non-responsive omega, was definitely in his hair. And by proxy, all the other victims’ hair, too.

And the other told him that they were definitely after Tim now.

But what was this play of events? What were they trying to do? Were they already going after him? Using the braised chicken? So, besides the weird taste, why had nothing happened?

Come to think of it, why braise it? Technically speaking, it was easier to serve fried chicken, production-wise. So why bother stewing it? 

When he’d voiced his concerns to Jason, the alpha had panicked, seemingly only hearing the part where they were after Tim, and they might’ve put something in the chicken. They’d monitored Tim for symptoms the entire afternoon, but nothing was popping up. Jason wasn’t satisfied until five hours later, where Tim reassured him that if something was going to happen, it would’ve done so by now. They’d checked the older man too, once, but the results were much the same, leaving Tim doubtful that there was something in the food after all.

A sudden beep pulls him out of his thoughts, and he turns to the centrifuge, its LED blinking green as it finished. His eyes widen as he opens it, and checks the vessel in the middle. _Perhaps there’s something in it after all?_ he asks himself as he lifts the lid. 

Empty. 

His expression falls in disappointment as he goes to sit back down, but the light catches on something at the bottom of the tube. He pauses mid-sit, slowly lifting himself back up, eyebrows rising as he notices that it’s not empty at all - there _is_ something there. 

He picks up the tube, staring at the bottom - where a few drops of semi-clear liquid remained, glinting in the light. Granted, it's a very little amount of something, but there nevertheless. He looks at the rest of the tubes that had been surrounding the middle vessel, separating them from the mixture. Yep, that was definitely the chicken sauce in them. This, whatever it was, was different.

“Jason, I think we got something,” Tim calls out to the alpha, who replies back with a “Hmm?” from the kitchen. He can hear the tap water running, and realizes he must be washing the dishes. He decides to disturb him later and turns back to the test tube.

He activates their chemical analysis equipment, storing some of the liquid in a covered tube and putting the rest in a syringe before pushing it into the injection port. He sits back down and watches the graph on the computer, observing how the graph spikes and subsides at abnormal intervals. His brows furrow together the longer he watches, and the more he sees, the more he realizes something. He _knows_ this compound.

He opens his laptop, pulling up data from a recent investigation he'd had on date rape drugs. He pulls up the same graph where he’d had analyzed them, looking back and forth between the screens. There was no doubt about it - the pattern of spikes, the sequence of retention times… 

They were exactly the same.

“You find something?” a voice suddenly pipes up behind him, and Tim turns to look at its owner, only to be met with a bewildered expression. “Whoa, that’s…” Jason trails off as he stares at the graph. “A heat inducer,” Tim finishes for him, looking back at the screen and nodding. “I do believe we’ve found our house special.”

Suddenly the graph spikes again at 10 minutes, and Tim’s forehead creases in confusion as he looks back at the other graph. There wasn’t any compound in there that spiked the graph at a 10 minute retention time. _So what…?_

And then he realizes he’s analyzed a similar sample with a 10-minute retention time before. He takes the remainder of their sample, and he places the rest of it in another chemical analyzer - the one specifically for pheromones.

“Tim, what are you…?” Jason begins, but it only takes a few seconds for something to pop up on the screen. They gawp at it as they realize what they’d both eaten that morning - there were pheromones in the inducer. Familiar ones. Alpha ones. Strong. Already analyzed. Mixed in with Eva’s own in the path of the school shed.

Type C.

And they weren’t just any pheromones either - the data on the screen told them that these pheromones in particular were released during the alpha’s rut.

Tim blanched, and he began to detect a similar displeasure emanating from behind him. “What the hell.” Jason declared. “Tim, are you-” he started, reaching for him. “I’m okay,” he replied, allowing Jason to hold him and cup his face. The alpha stroked his cheek, before sighing and resting his chin on the top of Tim’s head. Tim sighed as well, realizing exactly what they had tried, and thankfully failed, to do. Then he scowled, realizing something else. If this was how they incapacitated the omegas, then why…

“Thank fuck it didn’t work. Sick bastards. No wonder it tasted disgusting,” Jason snorted. Tim nuzzled into the vibrations. “But why didn’t it…?” he whispered softly without thinking. “Does it matter?” Jason asked, pulling back to look at Tim. Tim blinked slowly back at him, dazed and a little disoriented. Now that he wasn’t completely engulfed in the alpha’s warmth, his head could think more clearly, and his thoughts were rushing in a mile a minute.

“That’s probably how they got Eve,” he blurted out. Jason’s eyebrows shot up, before coming back down. “Right. Makes sense. That might be why Jacki ran off. They probably served it on the day she disappeared,” he said, drawing the same conclusions Tim had. He nodded. “It worked on her. And I’m like her. So it should’ve worked,” he told the other, barely able to form coherent sentences as he rested his forehead on one broad shoulder, inhaling the scent there and suddenly overtaken by the urge to giggle.

“I’m just glad it didn’t,” Jason sighed again, pulling Tim even closer, and further exploding the warmth in Tim’s gut. This was really bad for him. It was totally unfair that he was completely at Jason’s mercy. He didn’t even know it was possible to get drunk on someone’s pheromones.

“They’re really after you now, huh?” Jason murmured, idly massaging the back of his head. “Mmhm,” Tim replied, smiling as he leaned back into the touch. _They’re just using the wrong pheromones_ , he thought.

“Sleepy, babybird?” Jason asked, pulling back again to look at him. Tim almost snarled at the loss of warmth as he chased it, wrapping his arms around the other’s neck so he could nuzzle back into his chest as he shook his head. “No. ‘M not sleepy,” he reassured, before letting out a small yawn and then smiling loopily at Jason.

Jason stared at him, amused. “Right,” he snorted fondly. “Sleepy time, babybird,” he laughed, walking backwards towards the direction of the door and pulling Tim along with him. “No.” Tim replied stubbornly, even as he kept up with the alpha’s pace so he could continue to keep his head firmly attached to his chest. “Come on,” Jason pleaded with him. Tim shook his head. “I’ll even join you this time,” Jason teased, and Tim looked up to give him a small pout. 

“You can’t bribe me,” he snuffled, burying his face back in the fabric. “Oh yes, I can,” Jason replied. Tim vaguely registered that the door to Jason’s room was opening, and they were backing onto a nice, velvety softness, and he was being pulled into a lap, which meant he had access to the very pleasant-smelling crook of Jason’s neck, which was currently his only concern.

Jason chuckled as Tim nuzzled into his neck, his fingers absentmindedly trailing up the omega’s back, stopping at his nape to rub the scent glands there. Tim almost moaned as his grip on Jason tightened, pushing back into the touch. “Jason. I am… not sleepy. Put me down,” he demanded, even as he purred happily against the hand at his back. 

“As you wish, dearest boyfriend of mine,” Jason replied, pressing a kiss to his forehead and gently laying him down on the sheets. As soon as the scent hit his nose, Tim knew he was defeated. He snuggled happily against it, the omega in his brain deciding to have a heyday as he cheerfully buried his face into the pillow. He almost didn’t mind as Jason left the room, and he could hear him turning off the equipment and the lights before returning.

He could sense his presence before he arrived, feeling the familiar warmth press against his back. He grinned goofily to himself as he realized it wouldn’t be leaving him for the rest of the night.

And as Timothy Drake-Wayne fell asleep, only one thought occurred to him.

_He could totally get used to this._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ajsdgjksfhlsd hi guys :'D how are you all doing? Recently, school requirements have been eating away at my time and sanity. Sorry I haven't been able to update m(_ _)m 
> 
> I really needed a break to rest so I wrote some fluffy Jaytim xD here you are, please enjoy <3
> 
> Bonus:  
> Tim: *loses literally each time his bb makes him go to sleep*  
> also Tim: I think I could get used to this. Just maybe.


	14. Chapter 14

Jason should be relaxed by now.

He’d barely had any classes that day, and when he’d finished he’d gone down to the school basement to pick Eva’s locker and take a strand of hair from her hairbrush. Basic undercover stuff. And after that, well, it’s not like he’s never done recon before.

Or rather, _Tim_ was doing recon. He was _fuming_.

He bit down to repress the snarl rising up his throat as a brunette put his arm around Tim’s shoulders, to which the omega responded to with a smile that left a bad taste in his mouth. Currently, his investigation partner was surrounded by school alphas, some of which possessed type C pheromones. They’d been doing this all day, but this bunch had been particularly handsy and they were starting to get on Jason’s last nerve.

He knew he was being selfish. Knew that Tim was only acting on the mission, that the way his legs were crossed and the way he leaned into his laughter didn’t actually mean anything - that Tim didn’t actually give a shit about these guys, these sacks of crap who didn’t even bother to disguise their lascivious interest as their eyes roved up and down Tim’s slim figure. 

But the other part of him - the part of him that made him go into rut every six months, made him react to every giggle Tim made, made him want to sink his teeth onto the scent gland on the omega’s neck, mark him, claim him, make him _his_ \- that part of him, it was telling him something else entirely.

It was telling him that it was his right to go down there, march right up to each and every one of their indiscreetly stupid fucking faces, spit in them and then carry Tim out of there, bridal style.

But of course, Jason was stuck watching them from a distance, the binoculars never getting him as close as he would like from his rooftop view as Tim gathered info from the targets and fed him the intel through his earpiece. He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. Tim could handle himself, and Jason had a job to do.

“ _-football every Friday_ ,” someone was saying. Jason scowled as he noticed it was the guy who had his arm around Tim. Jones, he believed his name was. Jason confirmed this as he zoomed in on the oculars, the brunette’s mouth moving as he spoke. He made a mental note to remember that name, for… investigative purposes.

“ _Pretty much every week,_ ” he continued, laying out his weekly activities for Jason to crosscheck with their info on the laptop that lay beside him. The guy, however, tacked on an unnecessary laugh at the end of his sentence that punctuated how he dropped his arm to the bench so his hand could shift ever so slightly closer to Tim’s ass, and Jason resisted the urge to growl.

“Oughta go down there and break those fucking fingers,” he grumbled lowly, recording the information onto another sheet and checking with the data they had so far on the suspect’s file.

Unfortunately, none of the information was a match. Shame, Jason would’ve wanted a reasonable excuse to crack his face on the pavement, this Jones motherfucker.

“ _Oh, I’ll be sure to check it out,_ ” Tim’s voice came, high-pitched and giggly, and it made Jason’s stomach churn in displeasure. Tim might’ve came on like he was flirting, but he swore if these assholes tried anything-

“ _How about that bar, down by Haylard street?_ ” another alpha chimed in, and this one caught Jason’s attention. Haylard street was where they’d found traces of the target’s activity, and their data told them that it was most likely there where the omegas were brought for… _processing_.

By the way Tim’s breath hitched on the comm, Jason knew he was thinking exactly the same thing.

“ _Really? What’s to see down there?_ ” Tim asked, latching onto the lead. Jason waited with bated breath, opening another sheet to record the data. The alpha was a redhead, and his name- what was his name?

“ _No way, Craig. Their beer sucks,_ ” another piped in, answering Jason’s prayer but also making him want to smack the guy upside in the head for shooting down their chance to gather more info.

“ _Oh, I see._ ” The disappointment in Tim’s tone was palpable, and the others must have heard it too, because someone replied immediately with a cheerful voice. “ _But if you’re really looking for something to do around here, how about renting a boat at the lake?_ ” he supplied, and Jason could hear the others resound in agreement.

“ _Ain’t that something for couples to do though?_ ” another asked and he could hear the leer in his voice. Jason gritted his teeth. These guys had no fucking shame-

“ _Heard the back sides are high enough they can’t see what you’re doing over there,_ ” said another, and Jason didn’t need the binoculars to see that they were leaning over Tim. Jason outright snarled this time. 

He’d had enough of this shit.

Tim chuckled uncomfortably, moving backward on the bench, trying to put some distance between himself and the man trapping him between his arms. He couldn’t cause a scene now and risk blowing his cover. “How about it, baby?” the alpha sneered. “Wanna show us a good time?” he asked, one of his hands moving down to stroke the inside of Tim’s thigh.

Tim swallowed, looking up. He opened his mouth to respond, when-

“Ow- _fuck!_ ” the man cursed as he fell back, landing on his ass as the person responsible leaned over to look at him, hand still on his shoulder where it had done the damage. Jason scowled at him, one side of his lip twitching up in a snarl. “He has a boyfriend,” he spat before grabbing Tim’s hand and pulling him off the bench, dragging him away amidst the startled alphas. Cries of protest began to follow in their wake, some of them from Tim, Jason choosing to ignore all of them in favor of the blood pounding in his ears.

*~*~*~

The ride home had been in silence. Tim stared from his perch on the bed, huddled in Jason’s blankets as the alpha paced the room, looking tense and about to go off at any moment. Tim recognized the back-and-forth walking - a symptom both Bruce and Dick had shown occasionally, when someone or something in particular had threatened the safety of the pack, and their instincts went haywire.

This particular session, however, had been longer than any Tim had dealt with before. The alpha had been giving him tentative looks for the past hour, as if there was something he had to say, his eyes looking partly regretful and, Tim thought, almost… apologetic. And then his uneasy stance would return, and he’d continue pacing. He sighed, shuffling forward and regretting the loss of the warmth and comfort the sheets had provided. Immediately Jason’s head snaps toward the movement, and Tim knew he didn’t want him leaving the bed and his scent right then, and although the voice in the back of his head agreed he knew that he had to calm him down.

“Tim…?” Jason began, flinching as he stepped forward. This made him pause, curiosity swirling in the back of his mind, brows furrowing together as he took another step. “Jason?” he began, a little taken aback as the alpha backed away, seeming keen on putting more distance between them. “Tim,” Jason started, a warning almost in his tone, seemingly panicking as his back hit the wall. “Don’t… Don’t come near me.” he strained, holding his arms up. Tim’s eyebrows shot up, his resolve only strengthening as he pushed onward, urgency chasing him with each step. He didn’t know what it was- if it was worry or just curiosity-

He pulls the arms shielding him back, meeting the alpha’s eyes and giving him a clear view of the emotion that pooled there. _Fear?_ The scent hit him as well - he was scared of something. Stressed. About what? _What was the matter?_ And then he doesn’t miss the way Jason’s gaze seems to linger on his neck, before he turns away again, reeling back as if burned. Tim’s eyes widen in realization. This wasn’t about pack. This was about _him_. And now Jason was holding back, and he was hurting for it.

Before he realized what he was doing, his arm was reaching out to touch him, caress his face, do something- a hand grabs his wrist, stopping it in its tracks. Tim freezes, snapping back to reality as he watches the alpha in front of him. Jason shuts his eyes tight as he sighs. “Tim, don’t…” he exhales, looking weary. “Don’t… or I…” he gulped, letting go of Tim’s wrist. “I’m going to do something we’re both going to regret,” he tells him. “Wouldn’t be the first time, right?” he gives him an apologetic smile. “Can’t always be you on the receiving end,” he jokes lightly, but his chuckle sounds sad. It’s a ruse. Tim can see the doubt in his eyes. The way they couldn’t meet Tim’s. The way he seemed so doubtful. So… ashamed. He was so… so _scared_. Of _himself_. That was the worst part. Tim’s heart splinters into a million tiny pieces.

It was times like these that he got caught off guard, and he wasn’t sure what to do - but his instincts seemed to know, so he listened. He grabbed his hand again, anticipating it as Jason tries to pull away, but his grip stayed firm. He looks at Jason, wordlessly forcing him to meet his eyes, wishing he would see what he was trying to say, hoping that in the determination he put in it, he could show how much trust he had for him. How much he believed in him. How much Jason should believe in _himself_.

He lifts the hand gently towards himself, towards his face. Jason tenses at first, so Tim strokes him with his thumb, rubbing over his knuckles, skin whispering over and every dip and curve, all the calluses and wounds. All of him. He sighs in satisfaction as he feels the rough palm cup his cheek. He gives him a small smile of pride, telling him he was doing a great job. He closes his eyes and then presses a feathering kiss at the base of his palm, where he could feel his pulse thundering beneath his lips. He could hear the hitch in the alpha’s breath, gently opening his eyes again to meet the teal gaze, glad that now it was more than anger and sorrow and regret. “That’s more like it,” he whispers into the palm, grinning.

Jason huffs a laugh, sounding half-amused and half-relieved. Tim smiles as he takes both his hands this time, leading him backward, onto the bed. Once they get there, he pulls him down on the edge of the mattress, and nestles comfortably on Jason’s lap. The older shifts reluctantly. “Tim-” the smaller boy shushes him, putting a finger over his lips, before humming happily as he grabs both of the alpha’s arms, twining them around his waist, making sure they stay. When he is satisfied with his work, he looks back up at Jason, smiling cheerfully. “See? Not so bad,” he grins, before wrapping his own arms around the other’s neck and burying his face in his chest. He feels the arms around him hesitate, before gradually increasing pressure, holding the omega closer. He feels the soft exhale of air on the top of his head as Jason rests his chin there.

“I don’t…” Jason releases another exhale. “I don’t like seeing you like that. Doing those kinds of stuff. With other people. Weird people,” he adds, wrinkling his nose. “I… I was seriously considering marking you, Tim.”

The omega buries his face further into the cloth. “Jason,” he mumbles. “You…” he laughs softly, relishing in the calm, soft scent he had grown so fond of the past few days. “It’s okay,” he whispers, grinning. “I wouldn’t like seeing you with other people like that, too,” he admits. Jason looks down at him, his eyes still betraying his uncertainty. “Yeah, but-”

“Jason,” Tim cuts him off again. “It’s okay. Trust me.” He says, grasping his face between his hands determinedly as the other looks at him with mild surprise, but also like he was hearing something he knew he really needed to, but nobody had ever told him before. “I’m not… I don’t disregard the fact that you had those thoughts. But I do know that when you have them again, you’ll be strong enough to face them,” he said, cupping his face ever so gently, so reverently, between his hands, accepting it as Jason puts his own over them.

“Because you’re much stronger than you think, Jason,” he smiles, eyes twinkling at him. “I believe in you. It’s about time you let yourself believe, too.”

Jason looked back at him, eyes shining with unshed tears. Tim barely registers it as his face is peppered with kisses, quickly overwhelmed as the omega inside him squeals in delight, disobeying Tim like a petulant child. He quickly discovers it’s better to just give in to the onslaught, letting himself sink into it, and simply enjoy the show of affection. When Jason finally calms down, his head resting on Tim’s shoulder and the omega’s hand caressing the soft hairs at the back of his head, he sighs. He knows that by this stage the alpha’s instincts weren’t quite done with them yet.

“God, Tim… I just… I want…”

“Want what, Jay?”

“Tim… please… just. Stay,”

“I’m right here, Jason.”

“Stay, Tim.”

“So eloquent.”

“Shut up.”

“Make me.”

“Oh, you’re asking for it.” Jason lifts his head, staring into Tim’s eyes, the blue of the sky staring back at him. Tim searches him, eyes hopeful, roving over every detail of his face, over every scar, the teal of his eyes, the streak in his hair. Jason gazes back just as hungrily, his hand coming up to brush Tim’s cheek, and Tim feels the whisper of breath fall softly on his own lips. Tea and mouthwash and something so inexplicably _Jason_.

Neither of them knew who did it, who closed the distance, but neither ponder it as they meet in a surge of desperation, pouring everything into the kiss. All the unsaid words, the unmade promises, declarations unnecessary as their lips press softly together.

Tim falls back on the bed, and Jason follows after him, chasing his lips. Tim giggles against him, breathing hard. Jason grunts as he flips them over, putting Tim on his chest and the other rests his chin on his hands, staring at him fondly.

“I really needed to hear that,” he admits. Tim giggles again. “You’re welcome,” he offers. “I’m so glad it was you,” he admits again. Tim sighs in satisfaction. “I wouldn’t have it any other way, either.”

And they settle back into the details of their daily lives, both blissfully unaware of the events unfolding as two floors below them, someone smashes the windows of a certain maroon vintage Ford Mustang and takes only one thing - Jason’s jacket. And his pheromones are still fresh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> they are very soft istg fluff is my kink
> 
> on a more serious note, sometimes I feel like I'm compromising the quality of these chapters just to get them out??? Like sometimes I really doubt myself on these and I think I could do better if I redid some things. With everything going on and online classes and stuff, I feel like I could do better but I'm unable to. Anyway, sorry for the rant but it's nice to get that off my chest. I promise I'll try to get back to my best next time, I'll really try! Thanks for reading!


	15. Chapter 15

“Hey Tim, you seen my jacket? I swear I left it here somewhere…” Jason muses as he rummages around in the front of the car, his front half leaning in to inspect beneath the seats. Tim shakes his head, standing next to the him in the apartment’s parking, zipping up his own jacket before opening his bag and tossing Jason a familiar garment - his favorite brown leather jacket, which consequently, was Tim’s favorite too. 

Jason’s quirks an eyebrow as he catches it. Something about it seemed… different. It had been nicely pressed, and the stains that had plagued it which Jason never managed to get out were miraculously gone. The alpha turns it over in his hands, noting the meticulous way it was folded. His let his gaze travel across the fabric, eyes widening as he spots the previously torn seam in the interior, grinning as he spots the clumsy hand stitches that patch it up, care and thoughtfulness obvious in every stroke. He liked the way he could still tell where Tim struggled, smiling as he strokes the thread beneath his fingertips. It didn’t smell like their liquid detergent, either - which meant it had been hand washed.

Jason’s eyebrows rise as he looks back at Tim, who turns away bashfully, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I know you said I didn’t have to wash it, but… well… I did,” he finishes lamely. “Babybird… you…” Jason starts. “I wanted to, really, it was nothing,” the smaller boy replies quickly before he can finish. Jason grins. “You just carry this around with you?” he smirks, tone mirthful as he watches the flush rising up the other’s neck, almost choking on his own words. “I- what- no! No, of course not- I just-” he coughs into his hand before continuing. “I didn’t see you bring out a jacket when we left the apartment, so…” he says, looking away again.

Jason laughs as he pulls the other in, trapping him between his arms as he lets out a surprised yelp. “Thank you, Tim.” he whispers softly into his hair, staring at the jacket from behind him. Taking care of his jacket, without Jason even knowing about it, and doing it in that precisely attentive way of his - it was just like Tim. The boy in question sniffs. “Yes, well, it may yet live to see a few more years. Granted that you start taking better care of it,” he huffs, looking up at Jason. He grins back at him. “What, you kidding? Of course I’m going to take care of it now. Can’t let my sweetheart of a boyfriend’s work go to waste, can I?” he coos.

Tim snorts, grinning, and pushes away from him, purposefully turning his head away. “Are we going to the school or not?”

Jason smiles as he puts on the jacket. “Coming, boyfriend dearest,” he laughs, getting in the car with him.

~*~*~*~*~

Tim tries not to trip as he’s pulled across the hallway, struggling to keep his gaze on the blonde head in front of him. “Jacki- are you sure about this?” he grunts as he bumps against another person, flashing a quick apologetic smile before turning back to the person dragging him through the campus. “I mean, don’t you think it’s weird that the cafeteria’s giving out food again? Maybe they’re like, secretly just feeding us left-overs with weird chemicals,” he half-jokes, knowing the truth is barely any farther from it. He’d been about to investigate another type C alpha, before Jacki had insisted on dragging him through what felt like half across the entire world for another round of free cafeteria food.

“Besides, after what happened last time…” he trailed off, remembering how Jacki ran as soon as she'd seen the chicken. Jacki shook her head, quelling his arguments. “Nah, it’s happened before,” she says, ignoring his second statement. “Sometimes it happens twice in a row,” she nods, seeming to reassure herself, before smiling and turning back to Tim. “It used to be an inside joke between me and Eva that the food made people disappear, because sometimes they would coincide,” she tells him. This piques his interest. “Coincide?” he asks, trying to get more out of her.

She shakes her head. “Yeah, it happened sometimes. A lot, actually, and people got suspicious. So the police tested it and in the end they said it was safe, but we kept up the gag. Ridiculous, right? And then one day, she really…” she stops walking, her grip on Tim loosening as they come to a full stop in the middle of the hallway.

“Jacki…” Tim reaches out, but she turns back quickly, a forced smile on her face. “Anyway, I heard there was punch today. I’ve had it before. It’s pretty good!” she recovers her earlier vigor, pulling Tim along again and making him catch himself as he lurches forward.

Tim sits, fiddling with his cup as he obediently occupies a booth, watching Jacki line up. He sighs before a sudden buzz from his pocket makes his eyebrow quirk up, and he fishes it out to reveal a text from Jason.

It’s a picture of him in the student lounge, and he can see Jake’s blue Tommy Hilfiger coat hanging on a chair in the background, the price tag still obnoxiously attached, while Jason holds up the worn-down leather jacket next to it. The caption reads “couldn’t match up in terms of boyfriend material ;D” and Tim grins as he chuckles to himself. He starts to tap out a reply before a hand slams down on his table, and he looks up to meet an icy gaze, evidently also having seen his phone screen.

“Woodard,” he remarks coldly, turning off his phone without looking down. Jake smiles down at him, a feral thing, before setting down two drinks on the table and sitting down across from him, his friends following suit. He sees Jacki move out of the corner of his eye, angrily storming towards them, but he shakes his head, silently pleading with her to stay where she was. He didn’t want her getting involved in what would inevitably still be a mess, whether she was there or not.

Jake smiles at him again, clearly not reaching his eyes. “Hello, _boyfriend_ ,” he says in a mocking tone, clearly betraying his displeasure. “You seem like you could use some company,” he grins, pushing one of the drinks toward Tim. Tim spares it a single glance, but doesn’t take it. Someone flinches in his peripheral. The alpha’s smile falters for half a second, before returning with even more ferocity than before. He repeats the gesture, more firmly this time, stance communicating that it was not a request. Tim blinks at him. “Cut the crap, Jake. What do you want?” he shoots back, feeling the weight of the entire room’s gaze, feels the tension spike as the words get past his lips, the shock of them hanging in the air. Jake notices as well, lips finally morphing into a snarl. For a guy who wanted what he couldn’t have, he sure didn’t take rejection well.

“Fine. Have it your way,” he replied, unsettling grin back in place as he nods to one of his buddies, and Tim’s instincts rear up, his eyes darting to the box his friend was carrying - braised chicken. The very same one they had the other day. His friend grins, closing the box, and Tim doesn’t think about how they still have it, how it’s still steaming hot even though it’s not being served in the cafeteria, doesn’t think about the details as he sits and stares in horror as the guy moves towards an oblivious Jacki, giving him a curious look.

He looks back at Jake, who is grinning smugly at him now, and, glaring at him, Tim finally picks up the cup and tips it back into his mouth.

The taste surprises him as it reaches his palate, and he surprises himself with the ease his body allows it to permeate his senses, filling his nose and tongue with its scent, and against his better judgement, he allows himself to relax into it. Calm, refreshing… and familiar.

He sets the cup down, still glaring at Jake. “What do you want?” he asks again, keeping the growl from his voice. Jake opens his mouth to say something, but the bell interrupts him, signaling that it was time for the next class. The guy seems almost relieved as he shrugs, leaving the cups on the table as he stands, giving Tim a leering grin. “Guess we’re out of time. Maybe I’ll see you later, pretty bird,” he chuckles darkly as he smiles at him. “Look forward to it.”

Tim doesn’t think about it as he rushes to his next class.

~*~*~*~*~

“You can go, you know,” Tim tells the alpha currently fussing over a laptop on a desk in the empty classroom they had been occupying for the past hour. Their classes were over for the day, and Jason had ambushed him while he’d been attempting to work in one of the unoccupied classrooms along the first floor hallway. “I can do this by myself,” the other man replies, and Tim doesn’t miss the way the he shies away, blocking the screen from view. Tim grins, a hundred percent sure that the alpha had utterly no idea what he was doing. 

The display on the screen had been showing the electrolysis results he’d taken from the DNA test on Eva’s hair, and Tim had to reconfigure the software so that he could sequence it properly. He’d spent the last 20 minutes explaining to Jason how it worked, because he apparently had a newfound interest in chemical analytics - but Tim knew better. Jason had been invited to hang out with some of the friendlier alphas in the dorms, and they’d been trying to set him up with a girl who’d been too shy to ask him out. Now he was actively avoiding them, and subsequently hindering Tim.

He didn’t mind. Not really, when he could giggle at Jason trying to figure out all the buttons and sliders, eyebrows furrowed in suspicion as he pushed each of the keys like they were about to bite him. And if he was being honest with himself, he didn’t really want anyone else seeing him like this, either.

“What about this… watchmacalit?” he asks for the nth time, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Uh, I don’t really use that one much. It just reruns the simulation and- No wait-!” he rushes to grab Jason’s arm, but it’s too late. His finger hits the key, and the screen turns blank, an empty canvas. Tim stares at it, mouth hanging open and horrified, as Jason squints and continues rubbing his chin. “So… where is it?” he asks, eyes scanning across the white expanse. Tim sighs, resting his forehead in his palm, before shaking his head and chuckling.

“It’s really okay, you know-” he breaks off as they both hear the door creak open, a head popping in. It was one of the alphas that had been trying to set Jason up, and Tim nudges him in the ribs as his expression sours.

“Forget something?” Jason asks, features softening but compensating for it with his tone, indicating that he was absolutely displeased at having been found when he was clearly trying not to be. The boy in the doorway just chuckles nervously, stepping into the room as he scratches the back of his head. 

“Hey, uh… Sorry, man. Jason. I guess we were a bit too forward… huh?” he laughs, giving them a tentative smile. Tim nudges him harder, knowing Jason was about to reply with a biting remark, willing him to behave. Jason sighs, and Tim can see the little eye roll in the gesture even when it’s not there. It makes him huff in amusement.

“Yeah, that’s alright,” he replied. “Just thought you should all know I have a boyfriend.” he grabs Tim’s hand for emphasis, and Tim blushes as he quickly looks back at the other boy, gauging his reaction. He simply nods, acknowledging them, before turning back to Jason.

“Yep, got it. Anyway, me and the guys were about to play basketball in the courtyard. You can um, join, if you want,” he says, shrugging nonchalantly. Jason nods back. “Right, I’ll think about it,” he replies, still not letting go of Tim’s hand. The boy gives one last nod at them, before turning back around and leaving the room.

Tim slaps his wrist. “You are not going to think about it,” he says firmly, giving a weak tug at his palm trapped in Jason’s own. The man simply grins back at him, tightening his grip before giving him a pout. “My boyfriend doesn’t want to spend time with me?” he mock-whines, and Tim rolls his eyes, smiling. “Not after you just deleted his progress, no,” he snorts, taking the laptop back and putting it on his own lap.

“Aww, come on babybird. I could totally help you,” he shoots back, huffing and finally letting go. Tim turns to him again, a smirk on his face. “You really want to help?” he asks. Jason nods. Tim makes a pout of his own, giving Jason his best puppy-dog eyes. “You really wanna help your boyfriend with this investigation?” he whimpers at him. Jason feigns a sad expression, pressing his palms together. “Yes please,” he tells Tim.

“Then go gather info from the targets,” he says, pinching Jason’s nose and moving it back and forth. “Mmmm don’t want to,” Jason declares, nose still between Tim’s fingers. Tim rolls his eyes. “Go, you petulant man-child. One of them’s going to be at the basketball game, and we need that info.” he says with finality, turning back to the laptop.

Jason sighs, making a show of leaning dejectedly over his desk, before taking his sweet time getting up. “You sure you’re gonna be fine in here alone?” he asks, turning to Tim one last time as he stretches. Tim waves him off, focusing on recovering the data.

“Alright then,” Jason drops his arms and shrugs his shoulders. “No goodbye kiss?” he asks again in a mocking tone, and this time Tim looks back up at him, eyes betraying his exasperation but lips turned upward in amusement. “Give me that info and you’ll get all the kisses you want,” he huffs, turning back to his work.

“Deal.” Jason says, and Tim can hear the smile in his voice, looking up as Jason drapes his jacket over the chair. "Can't let it get dirty, can I?" he grins at Tim. "Call if you need me, babybird," he flicks softly at Tim's forehead, chuckling as he leaves the room. Tim shakes his head, smiling. He was just worrying over nothing. After all, it was just Tim, his work, and an empty classroom. What could possibly happen?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote some of this when I was sleep-deprived, can you tell? HAHAHAH 
> 
> anyway, it's test season and ya girl is stressdt. I hope you're all doing well in life lol. After I post the next chapter (it'll come out in a shorter time, I promise. I don't want to sacrifice the pacing) I might take a longer time in uploading again, bc I have to sort out some stuff w my online classes :') so pls forgive me xD and as always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: There's a particular scene here which involves harassment; It's not that bad, but I thought I'd warn you anyway, so please read at your own discretion m(_ _)m

Jason ignores the glares from the blonde and redhead on his left, shutting them out as he angles the shot, letting instinct take over. The ball goes in, barely touching the edges of the ring before bouncing on the linoleum floor of the gym.

“Hey, you’re pretty good,” another guy says as he grabs the ball, dribbling it around before attempting a shot. “You sure you don’t play officially?” he asks, the ball rolling on the rim before falling in.

Jason shrugs. He couldn’t very well tell them that regularly shooting bullets at targets farther than the entire length of the gym could probably do wonders for their hoop-shooting skills, among other things. He crosses his arms as he grins back at the glowering boys on his left. “Nah, maybe I need a little more practice. Ain’t that right, Stafford?” he smiles, feigning obliviousness.

He hadn’t planned on getting too into it - the only reason he’d been there was to gather info for Tim on one of the type C alphas. Then again, nobody told him Jake Mcfucking Woodard’s cronies would be here. Now he was doing it just to piss them off. 

“Whatever,” Jared says, looking away as another of his buddies, Derek, contorts his lips into a snarl, grabbing the ball from another player. “We meant what we said, Petranovic,” he leers, using Jason’s fake name as he lines up his own shot. “Just a bunch’a beginner’s luck. Your posture ain’t even that great, and the angle’s all wrong-”

Jason tries to hold back the snort that threatens to burst from his lips as the ball bounces off the rim, the noise coming out as a cough that he tries to cover up by clearing his throat. He looks away, stifling his laughter as Derek scowls at him angrily. Suddenly, his eye catches on something through the open doors of the gym - a blue Tommy Hilfiger jacket, with the price tag still attached. Jason narrows his eyes, tuning out Derek’s angry babbling, watching as the jacket’s owner looks around and proceeds further down the hallway - in the direction of Tim’s room.

Derek is still complaining as he makes up his mind. “Stupid ball’s probably deflated-” Jason cuts him off with a wave in their direction. “That was a good game. Catch you later,” he says, heading for the doors and ignoring the looks of curiosity exchanged behind him.

~*~*~*~*~

Tim tries to ignore the gurgling of his stomach, focusing on his work. He runs the program’s algorithm, looking for any possible matches in the compiled and reconstructed DNA splices. He winces as his stomach gives a painful twinge, feeling hotter by the second. Could it be something he ate? It had slowly been becoming unbearable over the past few minutes, and now…

He leans over the desk next to his, reaching for his water bottle, when suddenly his nose gets a whiff of Jason’s jacket. The heat in his gut explodes, and he collapses over the desk, a whimper escaping his lips. _Oh, shit._ These symptoms were all pointing to one thing, but… how was it possible? His heat had come a month ago, so he was sure it wasn’t time yet. _Then why…?_

He struggles through the haze of his mind, running through the events of the day as he tries to figure out- _there_. The scuffle in the cafeteria. And the drink Jake had given him… _Stupid. He should’ve known- The braised chicken and the punch - of course they came from the same source- dammit. They probably had a way-_

“Shit...!” Tim curses as he tries to stand, the pain shooting down the back of his thighs. His legs tremble, the sensations clouding his mind further as he braces himself on the desk, panting with the effort. He reaches unconsciously for the jacket, following his body’s instincts. Instantly the symptoms subside, pacified by the false presence brought by the scent of the alpha. Tim wraps it around himself, immediately comforted as the scent fills his senses, his body placated for the moment. With shaky hands he picks up his phone to call Jason- there’s no signal. Crap. He packs the rest of his things and hopes that the scenting will last until he can get out of the room.

That hope lasts approximately ten seconds as Tim’s body crashes against the wall seven feet away from the door, his breath coming out in puffs of steam. He bites back the whine that threatens to break loose, attempting to gather his things, but he can feel his mind slowly being bent, his actions being pulled out of his will. He gives up and collapses against the wall, panting as he slides down on his back.

His nose once again finds itself in the folds of Jason’s jacket, and he buries deeper into it, nuzzling against the fabric. He pulls his legs inward, letting the cloth engulf him and soothe his body, allowing him to rest for a moment even as his mind slips away.

Tim lazily turns his head around as the door opens, slowly blinking up at the alpha leering down at him with an icy gaze. “Ew,” escapes his mouth, unfiltered. He turns back, closing his eyes as he cloaks the garment further around himself, oblivious to the angry expression on the alpha’s face. Suddenly the jacket is ripped away from him, and Tim can’t help the whine torn from his throat as he reaches out for it again, the pain from the symptoms coming back tenfold.

Jake pulls him up to his feet, and Tim nearly screams from the pain, making a weak attempt at clawing at his attacker. He gives a pitiful whimper as his body twitches, forced instead to grip at the other boy’s clothes, tears forming in the corners of his eyes when he sees the jacket thrown to the side. He sobs in protest, scratching at the other’s coat.

“Shh, baby... He’s not here. I am. Let a proper alpha alpha take care of you,” he whispers into Tim’s hair, his arms holding the omega closer to himself. It does nothing to appease Tim, who simply cries louder, struggling harder and pounding his fists onto the alpha’s chest.

And then the alpha is pulling away from him, turning towards the door, and Tim barely notices as his attacker is thrown across the room, falling against the desks. Tim crumples back in on himself, sitting back against the wall and hugging his arms close as he feels the presence of new alpha. Familiar and comforting, but this time… it was different. Angry.

He can hear the first alpha shouting, but he tunes it out, focusing on relieving the pain. Then he hears the second alpha shout, and it grates against his ears, his tone sinking a hole deep in his chest, swelling the lump in his throat, and suddenly he’s crying, painful whimpers torn from his chest between sobs.

And then the alpha’s there, by his side, and the jacket is returned. He can still hear the other alpha shouting, but right then Tim couldn’t be bothered to care as he is scooped into the arms of the person he knew owned the jacket, and he relaxes against his chest with the comfort of knowing that he was right there with Tim.

~*~*~*~*~

“I’m afraid his heat’s been induced. Normal suppressants might not work,” the nurse tells Jason, who sighs dejectedly before running a hand through his hair. He averts his gaze to Tim, who was currently in one of the beds in the infirmary, still tucked in Jason’s jacket and, thankfully, sleeping in peace. The nurse’s gaze is drawn towards him as well. “Is he marked? I noticed how he would not part with the jacket-”

“No.” Jason replies firmly, knowing the rumors that had been going around in the campus about him and Tim. Some of them had been saying that Tim was secretly sleeping with one of the higher ups to maintain both their scholarships, and Jason didn’t like him getting marked by anyone else. He didn’t know how people came up with such ridiculous bullshit. Tim could take a scholarship in any school if he wanted to, and he sure as hell didn’t need anyone’s help to do it. Not some higher up, not Jason, not even Bruce. And he would definitely kick anyone’s ass if they tried to mark him without permission.

“Oh, I see,” the nurse coughs into her hand, blushing. “I’m sorry, it was just- Well, he exudes behavior characteristic of someone marked,” she says, flipping through the papers on her table. Jason’s eyebrows furrow. “What do you mean?” he asks. Come to think of it, it was strange. Tim had told him that he didn’t react to alpha pheromones, and yet he’d been calm the entire time he kept Jason’s jacket with him. And besides that, Tim had reacted to his shouting, which he’d immediately regretted…

Jason shook his head. He couldn’t focus on that right now. Some bastard had induced Tim’s heat, and he had a feeling he knew who.

“Ah, well, it could just be my imagination,” the nurse laughs nervously, waving off his concerns. “Here. I’ve given him the first suppressant, but it seems his symptoms still haven’t subsided. We’re not sure how long this heat will be, either. You can leave him here, there’s a clinic at the dorms-”

“I’m taking him home.” pops out of his mouth without thinking. The nurse looks surprised for a moment, before nodding. “Alright. Remember to give him the suppressants if it becomes too much. Please contact me if anything unusual happens,” she tells him as Jason gathers the sleeping omega into his arms once again.

~*~

The car ride home is in silence as Tim mostly dozes in the front seat, his feet pulled up and the jacket coddled around his sleeping figure. The seatbelt is pulled around his legs, and Jason tries to avoid the bumps in the road so that he doesn’t wake up more than he needs to.

Jason unbuckles the seatbelt once they get to the apartment’s parking, hoping there wouldn’t be many people around. Tim stirs for a moment as Jason puts his arm around him, nudging his nose softly against Jason’s cheek before closing his eyes and drifting off again. Jason chuckles endearingly as he shuts the car door with his foot and locks it, making his way upstairs.

Thankfully someone answers his prayers - the elevator was blissfully empty and nobody was around to bear witness to him carrying an unconscious, coddled Tim through the hallway and into their apartment.

Tim stirs a little again as they arrive at the doorway, making a small noise as Jason takes off his shoes. He wakes fully as the alpha tries to remove the jacket, making a face as Jason tugs on it, giving him a little growl of refusal, so Jason gives up and lets him keep it.

He starts to carry Tim to his room, and the omega seems to realize this, squirming in his arms. “Shhh, baby, it’s okay. We’re almost there,” he whispers softly, continuing to pace in the direction of Tim’s room. Tim shakes his head, thrashing his feet as his arms struggle to escape the confines of the jacket, and Jason almost trips. “Tim!” he says in surprise, catching them just in time.

Tim pouts at him, and Jason gestures towards the room before them. Tim takes one look at it, before whimpering back at Jason and shaking his head. Jason’s eyes betray his confusion. “What, then? What do you- Oh,” he says, realizing what he wanted.

He brings him to his own room, hearing the omega sigh as they step over the threshold, placing him down on the bed. Tim starts nesting as soon as he’s laid down on the mattress, gathering the sheets around himself. Jason goes to the kitchen to grab a few essentials, grabbing a few water bottles on the counter and looking in the pantry for some snacks. 

When he comes back Tim is finished, his clothes discarded on the floor at the side of the bed, making Jason blush at the thought that Tim was lying naked under one of his sheets. The rest of his pillows and blankets are arranged around him, his jacket the centerpiece as Tim nuzzles into it. He looks up as Jason enters the room, sleepy noises escaping his throat as he makes grabby motions at him.

Jason puts the tray down on the nightstand and makes his way over, sitting carefully on the edge of the bed, careful not to disturb the nest. Tim whines as he tries to pull him in closer, and Jason almost loses his balance as he leans in. Tim buries his nose in the crook of Jason’s neck, inhaling deeply, and he lets him stay there for a while. 

Then Tim gives it a little lick, making Jason shudder in surprise as he represses his moan. He tries to pull away, but Tim whimpers and grasps Jason’s fingers. Jason looks back down at him, the omega helplessly tugging at his arm, and he wonders which of them is really helpless as he sits back down on the cold floor, deciding to stay by Tim’s side and allowing the omega’s grip to remain on him.

~*~

Jason wakes up to pained moans, and he almost falls over again as he rushes to get up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes while he fumbles around in the dark. “Tim?” he asks out loud. “I-I’m here, Jason,” a voice replies from in front of him, hoarse but soft. He flicks on the lamp on the nightstand, met with the sight of Tim drenched in sweat, curled up and shivering on the bed. Jason feels his forehead with the back of his hand, gulping at the hot temperature. The omega whimpers, and Jason strokes the side of his face with his thumb.

“S-sorry I made a mess of your bed,” he stutters, still trembling. Jason shakes his head. “No, Tim. It’s fine. Tell me what you need,” he whispers gently as Tim grasps at his wrist with trembling fingers, holding his hand as it cups his face. He leans into it, pressing a kiss to his palm. “Jason,” he whispers weakly. Jason swallows down, hating that Tim seemed to be suffering. “Tim,” he whispers back, the silence around them immaculate. He leans down, pressing a kiss to his forehead, before leaning his own against it. “What do you need, babybird?” he asks again. Just then, Tim’s back arches and he clings to Jason, screaming in pain.

“It hurts, Jason,” Tim says, shaking as he looks at him and swallows. “It hurts,” he repeats, shutting his eyes tightly and moaning sharply as his body twitches, and he begins to cry even more. Jason struggles as he tries to decide what to do, grabbing one of the suppressants on the tray, opening it with fumbling fingers before twisting open the cap on one of the water bottles. 

He helps Tim up, careful to move his lower torso as little as possible, before giving him the tablet and some water. He guides Tim’s shaking hands, pressing the water bottle to his pale lips, before setting it down again. Tim gasps as he wipes his lips, panting. Just then he collapses onto the sheets, body convulsing uncontrollably as he screams again, the room filling with the scent of an omega in heat, and Jason doesn’t know what to do. He grabs his phone, intending to call the nurse, but Tim holds his arm, stopping him. 

It lasts for a few seconds, and Tim is panting when it’s over. One of his hands reach out to caress Jason’s own face. “This… this is how it normally is,” he says, smiling weakly even as his chest heaves in deep breaths. Jason’s eyes widen as he holds Tim’s smaller hands in his own, before they drop and he begins to arch again, moaning painfully. “Jay!” he screams, and Jason just wants it to stop.

He bends down, pressing a kiss to Tim’s lips, kissing him with all the fervor of a desperate man, and Tim tangles his fingers in his hair, pulling him closer, their tongues pulsating against each other.

When they break apart, gasping for air, Tim’s eyes are searching him. The color in his face is back, and now that he’s not so pale, his face is flushed, highlighting the blue of his eyes against his skin in the lamplight. He looks beautiful. Tim’s eyes rove across his own face, as if to commit it to memory, hungry for every little detail. Once he finishes, their eyes have met again.

“Hold me, Jay.”

Jason wastes no time in stripping off his clothes, climbing into the bed with Tim. Tim reaches for him, clinging onto Jason’s neck and hair as they press together, taking each others air, the room filling with the slick sounds of their tongues sliding against each other. Jason fumbles clumsily with the lower drawer of the nightstand, taking out one of the packets, before pulling away from Tim so he can rip it open with his mouth. Tim whimpers at the loss, panting as he stares at him sliding the condom on, the blues of his eyes almost snuffed out by the black of his pupils.

“Tim,” Jason says between breaths. “Present for me,” he asks him, and Tim whimpers obediently as he rolls onto his stomach, raising his lower half for Jason. He shudders as two fingers tease his entrance, rubbing themselves against his folds and coating themselves in his slick before penetrating him. Tim bites his lip, muffling his moans against the pillow as they start to thrust in, setting an even pace. His body begins to twitch again, but the pain that accompanies it is thankfully absent as he breathes into the bed sheets.

“Does it hurt?” a voice asks behind him. “No- _nngh!_ ” Tim shudders before burying his face into the pillow again, slightly embarrassed. Suddenly the fingers begin to scissor him, spreading him open, and Tim’s thighs tremble in anticipation. “Jason,” he whispers, clenching around the intrusion. Another finger joins them, thrusting in even deeper and hitting his prostate on the first go, making him gasp and moan as he arches, finally lifting his face from the pillow. He trembles as the fingers continue to caress that spot deep inside him, and he comes with a cry, spilling all over Jason’s sheets.

Once the fingers leave and he clenches around nothing, he almost whines in frustration before feeling a blunt pressure against his thigh, and his body vibrates with the suspense. “Jay,” he whimpers, feeling the pressure travel upwards, catching on the edge of his entrance. Tim clenches his eyes shut as he feels the pressure linger for a moment, before it finally pushes in.

Tim gasps, clawing at the sheets as Jason continues in, and Tim can feel him bending over Tim’s back, his lips brushing against the shell of Tim’s ear. Tim closes his eyes as his hips twitch, burying Jason’s cock deeper into himself, both of them moaning at the sensation.

They stay like that for a while, panting. “Y-you… are definitely wider than three fingers,” Tim informs him through heated breaths, turning around to glimpse his reaction. He can see the grin on his face through the half-light, hips twitching again as Jason grinds into him. “Thanks Timbo,” he chuckles, nipping at Tim’s ear.

Tim moans in frustration as his body starts to act up again, impatient with their current state. “Shh…” Jason coaxes him reassuringly, kissing gently up and down his neck and shoulders. “ _A-Ahh…_ ” Tim moans as Jason begins to rock backwards and forwards at a gentle pace, softly caressing Tim’s inner walls. The pace begins to pick up, and Tim has to grip on the sheets for dear life as Jason pounds into him, making his jaw go slack and allowing all kinds of sounds to escape his mouth.

“Nghh, _hah… _J-Jason- AHH!” Tim cries out as his second orgasm completely blindsides him, slick flowing out of him and onto Jason and down his thighs. Jason doesn’t stop his thrusting, keeping his pace and working him through it with small grunts and moans. Tim moans with each push inside, his walls clamping down each time the alpha tries to leave. When the haze clears, Tim whines as his body cramps again, and he gives a little whimper of frustration.__

__“Shh…” Jason calms him, pressing a kiss to his temple. “It’s okay, baby. One more time,” he whispers reassuringly, thrusting in harder than the first times and nearly jostling Tim forward. Tim gives an obscene moan, arms giving out as he flops down, and Jason momentarily slows so he can flip him over without pulling out. Tim whimpers at the twisting sensation inside him, and Jason bends down to press a gentle kiss on his lips before continuing his thrusting. And then-_ _

__“Jay! _Ah…!_ ” Tim lurches upward as Jason takes hold of one of his nipples in his mouth, the soft sensation of his tongue nudging the bud to hardness, before he nips at it with his teeth. Tim pants, staring emptily at the ceiling as his hands clench and unclench on the sheets beneath him. He could feel Jason getting bigger, his pace getting more erratic as the other chased his own orgasm._ _

__“One more time, baby,” he whispered again, kissing and marking up and down his chest, and Tim clenches around him. “One more time. For me,” he pants as he thrusts in, and Tim shuts his eyes tightly as he comes again, whimpering and whining, slick pouring out of his hole and guiding Jason as his knot finally enters him, the alpha groaning as it does. Tim can barely move, his arms and thighs trembling as he grips tightly at the sheets, hips twitching with every pulse of Jason inside him. He wished he could feel him, feel the sensations of Jason filling him up, his seed shooting deep inside of Tim. Jason continued to move in aborted thrusts, jostling Tim’s own hips as he did so, working Tim through his third orgasm._ _

__Jason lays beside Tim when he finishes, positioning them so that they faced each other as they panted in the space between them. Tim still wore a glazed expression as he breathed, could still feel his walls throbbing around Jason’s knot inside him, completely and utterly blissed out. Jason pulls him in, cuddling him against his chest as he presses a kiss to the top of his head. Tim can feel the vibrations through his chest as he purrs, releasing pheromones of happiness and satisfaction that lulls Tim to a state of almost-sleep._ _

__When Jason’s knot finally calms down, he pulls out of Tim and takes off the condom, tying it and throwing it in the trash. Tim can hear him through his sleepy daze, listening as the alpha gets off the bed gently, travelling outside to the kitchen and making a series of creaks and thuds before padding back inside the room. He had been carrying something, Tim isn’t sure what, setting it down on the bedside table before climbing back into the bed and pulling Tim in again, maneuvering him so that he was once again cuddled against his chest and buried in his arms. Tim nuzzles deeper into the warmth, closing his eyes fully as he presses closer to him._ _

__Jason closes his own eyes, sighing in satisfaction. Tomorrow they would talk, but for now that was how they fell asleep, entangled in each other’s warmth, satisfaction thrumming through their veins._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay smut finally HAHAHAH pls tell me how I did, I don't often write smut so I'm a little worried about how it is for ya'll :'D pls tell me gently, like Jason was with Tim LMFAO but srsly I will cry if ur mean to me TvT
> 
> And if any of you have any tips then it will be nice to know, thank you <3 hope you enjoyed!


	17. Chapter 17

A pair of soft blue eyes flutter open, squinting at the ray of sunlight shining down through the curtain, before turning up towards the warmth encompassing them. Tim sighs in satisfaction as he recalls the night’s events, the marks he now bore on his arms and thighs a reminder of the best heat he’d ever had in his life. He smiles fondly at the memory, before wincing as he spots a claw mark on Jason’s chest. He reaches out carefully, softly stroking his fingertips over the raw skin, where he must have scratched him at some point.

Suddenly a hand grabs his wrist, and Jason is looking at him, bleary-eyed and still half-asleep, smelling of a night soaked in their reverie. “Babybird,” he slurs, facing him and rubbing his eyes, looking more green than blue in the morning light. Tim giggles as the alpha noses at him, gently checking on his skin as if to reassure himself of Tim’s own state, not awake enough to be aware of the amusement the omega found with this. When he seems satisfied he presses a kiss on the Tim’s forehead, progressing downward, kissing above his eye, his cheekbone, his mouth, and even further down, prodding at his neck. Tim also notices that his hands begin to roam, flushing as he feels the callused hand stroke along his torso.

“Jay,” he starts, suddenly bashful. “Mmnf,” Jason replies, a mouthful of Tim’s shoulder caught between his lips. Tim shuts his eyes and swallows, lost once again in the sensations of Jason holding him. “Jay,” he repeats, this time in a soft whisper. Jason seems to listen to this, lifting his head to level with Tim’s again, only to press their lips together in a soft morning kiss, peppering him with attention. “Babybird,” he repeats again when they break apart for breath, and he seems more awake now, eyes searching deep within his own.

“Figure there are some things we need to talk about,” he says, even as he dips back down again to refurnish the marks on Tim’s neck, lavishing it with attention. Tim closes his eyes and shudders, leaning into the touch. “You say that, and yet…” he pants as he feels the air hit the chilled skin where Jason’s lips had touched, feeling cold after being exposed to the wet warmth. “Babybird,” Jason repeats for the third time as he moves downward, prodding at Tim’s chest while his hands take their time in moving across his body. “I recall someone mentioning they weren’t very reactive to alphas,” he says, his arms moving down to cup at Tim’s thigh. Tim bites back the moan that springs to life at the back of his throat.

“And while I believe that someone is not often wrong…” he continues, stroking ever so slowly upward, fingers dipping in the hollow of his hip, “It seems there are always exceptions to the rules,” he finishes.

Tim gasps as he feels the hand cup at his ass, giving it a squeeze, before moving down to his inner thighs and spreading them apart. The alpha looms over him, diving back into his neck, nipping and marking, all teeth and tongue. Tim shudders, the little moans and whimpers making their way out of his mouth unbidden. “I- I didn’t- Ah!” Tim’s body lurches upward, unconsciously chasing after the touch of the alpha as he feels the pressure of a single finger at his entrance. 

Jason looks down at him as he trembles, gripping onto his neck for support as he continues to push inside him. “Why did you hide it from me, Tim? When we could have _this?_ ” his finger crooks inside of Tim.

He outright moans this time, unbridled, and Jason bends back down to continue his handiwork. Tim swallows down again as he clutches delicately at the back of Jason’s neck. “I-I just… I didn’t-” Tim is broken by another gasp, followed closely by a moan as another finger joins the fray, stroking and prodding deep inside of him. “Didn’t what, Tim?” Jason asks, smirking and lifting his head up to get a good look at him. Tim wanted to kick him right now. He knew exactly what he was doing-

“Ahn!” Tim arches upward again as they shove in deeper, pressing this way and that, and Tim just knows what they’re looking for, so he decides to say what he wanted to say before they found it. 

“Because I didn’t want you to think I wanted you for this!” he screams, legs trembling as the fingers get really close, before stopping their movements completely. Tim opens his eyes, staring up at Jason, who looks back at him silently, eyes wide open in surprise. Tim’s own eyes widen as he realizes what he just said.

“I-I mean, yes, yes I do- I _do_ want you for this- But what I mean is-” he swallows down, stopping himself from stuttering and saying anything more stupid. He sighs. “Jason, I… When I realized I liked you, it wasn’t because you were an alpha.” he gulps, looking back at the other boy who remained silent, urging him to continue. Tim swallows again.

“I like you because… because you’re you.” he looked up, searching his face before continuing. “Because of the way you smile, the way you laugh when you tease me. Because of the way you make tea and the way you take care of me. Because of the way you make me feel so good about myself. Because of the way you’re so headstrong, the way you make something of yourself when the world expects nothing.” he bursts with sincerity, looking up. “When I started wanting you, it wasn’t just because it was what my omega wanted,” he tells him.

“Jason, when I fell for you, I did it because of you. Wholly and completely.”

Jason continues staring at him for a few long moments, incredulous, and before he knows it Tim’s face is being peppered with kisses as Jason dives back into him, leaving him moaning and completely undone, soft whimpers falling from his lips, unable to keep up with the onslaught.

“Jason- Jason wait- _Ah!_ ” Tim completely forgets the fingers inside him, now having found what they were looking for, making him surge upwards on the sheets and clench tightly around them. “Jason,” Tim moans his name, gripping at his back and softly scratching at the flesh there to ground himself as the other continues down his body. “Tim,” he whispers reverently against his skin, before sucking a mark into it, hard and wet and absolutely filthy.

Just then the doorbell rings, and Tim can hear it in the back of his mind, barely sparing it a moment’s thought as he leans into the alpha’s touch. Then it begins to ring again. Tim tries to listen, eyes shut tight as he bites his lip to keep the moans from spilling out of his mouth. This time it rings twice, then thrice, in consecutive and persistent pushes of the button. “Jay, there’s someone at the door,” Tim gasps breathlessly and pauses his movements for a moment. Jason doesn’t.

“Jason!” Tim jolts as the fingers spread him open, his slick flowing onto the bed. The doorbell rings again. “Nnnh…” Tim whimpers, looking in the direction of the door. Whoever is ringing it isn’t stopping this time, pushing the bell again and again before the tune even ends. Jason makes a noise of irritation. “Leave it,” he growls against Tim’s skin. “If we ignore them they’ll go away,” he presses another kiss to the pale skin, sucking another hickey as Tim clutches at his neck and moans.

Then they hear the front door unlock, and the sound of a familiar voice reverberating from the living room. “Guys? I know you’re in here. It’s Saturday, you know. No undercover classes,” the owner of the voice says, plastic crinkling as he sets something down on the couch. 

“Dick,” Jason snarls from where they’ve both stopped moving. Tim can’t help but agree with the sentiment. He sighs, lifting himself up and scratching the back of his head. “We’ll have to go out there and-”

“Guys?” just then they both hear footsteps coming towards the room, _Jason’s_ room, and both of them turn quickly towards the door handle in horror - it’s unlocked.

They scramble off the bed, grabbing things up off the floor and simultaneously kicking others under the furniture, cursing as they mixed and matched their clothing, haphazardly pulling them on. Just then they realize they have another problem - they smell exactly like each other. Both of them turn towards each other, horrified, and something shiny catches on the edge of Tim’s vision - the cap of a thermos on the nightstand. “Shit- I really should’ve-” Jason begins to panic, turning towards his closet. “Is this tea?” Tim asks, picking up the container. Jason turns towards him curiously. “Yeah, but…”

That was all Tim needed to hear as the beginnings of a plan form in his mind. The door handle clacks as it begins to turn, and Tim has no time to explain as he pushes Jason into the closet, closing it just as the door opens and Dick steps inside. 

Immediately Tim opens the bottlecap, pouring some of its contents into the nearest plant he can find on Jason’s dresser. The scent of tea wafts in the room, rich and calming. And more importantly, smelling like Jason.

“Tim?” Dick asks, fully stepping into the room and looking around. “Isn’t this Jason’s room? What are you-” he pauses as he spots Tim pulling the thermos back up, the tea retreating into the container, and he slowly looks up at Dick before clearing his throat as he screws the cap back on. “Uh…”

“Are you watering the- Is that _tea_?” Dick asks, leaning in to take a closer look. Tim steps in front of it to block his view, not sure what to do next, before deciding to shake his head. “It’s actually… um, a new variant of fertilizer I’m checking out. For the greenhouse plants. At the University. You know some plants need extra care and-”

“Tim, that’s a plastic Bonsai,” Dick gestures behind him. Tim’s eyes widen as he turns around in horror, the fabric leaves staring back up at him mockingly. He turns back to Dick. “So it is,” he nods in agreement. “Okaaay,” Dick gives him a curious look, before seeming to drop the subject, much to Tim’s relief.

“Anyway, why are you… fertilizing the plants in Jason’s room? Where is he, anyway?” he asks again, looking around. A small thump from the closet nearly gives them away, and Tim scrambles his brain for an excuse. “He went out. Earlier. To uh, do recon for the resto. That we’ll be investigating later. Mmhm.” he nods, seemingly to convince himself more than Dick. “Oh, that’s good,” Dick nods back at him, finally turning back around towards the door. “I’m glad you’re making leeway in the investigation. Bruce and I actually decided to…”

Tim tunes him out as his chest floods with relief, letting out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. He turns around, only to see Jason’s head peeking out from behind the closet door. Tim gives him a face and gestures at him to get back inside, only to jump in surprise as Dick pokes his head back into the room.

“Tim? You alright today? You seem a little… strange,” he says, looking again at the thermos in his hand. Tim looks at it too, before setting it down on the dresser and nodding. “Yeah, I’ll be right there. Just gonna… clean up and stuff,” he waves for him to go ahead, and luckily Dick acquiesces, going back to the living room.

Once Tim’s sure he’s not coming back, he returns back to the closet door, peeking in through the gap. “Fertilizer, Tim? Really? Is that all it was to you?” Jason mock-whispers through the door. “Shhhut up,” Tim smacks him in the arm, grinning as well at the infectious laughter, sneaking another look behind him before turning back to Jason. “Now what, though? I told him you were scoping out the resto-” Jason waves him off. “There’s a fire escape out back, I can get dressed properly in here and go through there,” he tells him. Tim nods, the plan seeming sound. “Another thing though,” Tim looks back down at his own clothes. “I still smell like you,” he whispers.

“That seems like the opposite of a problem,” Jason grins, and Tim makes another face at him, the blush on his face shadowing his huff of exasperation. “I need cologne or something-”

“Tim?” Dick asks from the living room, making the both of them jump. “Almost done!” Tim hollers back, before turning his face forward again, but Dick pipes back up. “Oh, and by the way, Damian and the others are coming by later too,” he announces casually. Both of them stiffen as they look at each other, and Tim sees his own panic reflected in Jason’s eyes.

“Do you have anything? Scent blockers, maybe?” he asks, desperation in his voice. Jason shakes his head dejectedly, sighing. “You could boil tea in the kitchen, so if it smells like me it’s no problem. It's just stalling from there.” he suggests. Tim mulls it over, before nodding. “Alright. You sure this’ll work?” he asks one last time. Jason laughs. “Come on, babybird. We’ve done recon before." he reassures him.

"How hard can this be?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shenanigans boutta happen
> 
> Anyway, hello! I know it's been a long time since I last posted (Ｔ▽Ｔ) hopefully ya'll are still reading this and enjoying it.  
> I just realized I really liked the trope of overwhelmed! Tim and so that might be how I write the smut in the future huehehheh
> 
> On another note, I don't really have a completely solid idea for how the next chapter ought to proceed, so if you have any ideas then please don't hesitate to tell me in the comments! I wanted an excuse to write funny batfam (and also include cass and duke, bc they are my faves aaa) but if you just want to see whatever I come up with, that's honestly fine too x3 I appreciate all of you leaving comments and kudos (especially the ones with essay-length comments, omg ily so much ToT you all deserve so much love <333)


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